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WARNING: The below contains FULL SPOILERS for Stranger Things, Season 4, Part 2, which is now streaming on Netflix. For spoiler-free Stranger Things coverage, check out our review of Part 2.
Eddie is the latest character to bite the dust on Stranger Things, going out on a sacrificial bang in the big Part 2 finale. And for what it’s worth, Joseph Quinn, the British actor who plays our new favorite metalhead/Dungeon Master, didn’t know he was going to be picked apart by demo-bats when he first took the role.
“I thought that maybe if I kind of worked hard enough, they might write me in for the next season,” he laughs. “But clearly, that didn't work.”
Unfortunately not – but hey, at least he went out like a badass. The final episode of Season 4, Part 2 saw Eddie and much of the rest of the Hawkins gang in the Upside Down attempting to stop Vecna from opening a fourth and final gate, with Eddie and Gaten Matarazzo’s Dustin tasked with distracting the demo-bats so Nancy, Steve, and Robin can set the artist formerly known as Henry/One ablaze.
However, after a thoroughly metal concert by Eddie, things take a fatal turn when demo-bats start finding ways through the Upside Down version of Eddie’s trailer, and he sacrifices himself while Dustin escapes. It’s quite the poetic turn for a character who’s proclaimed on more than one occasion that he’s no hero.
“There's a scene with Dustin and Eddie, getting ready in the meadow, where Eddie says ‘There will be no more running for Eddie the Banished,’ ” he says. “And I think in the build up to that, there's a switch that gets flipped, around there.”
As for shooting that wild scene, Quinn laughs that it was “kind of ridiculous”: “I was kind of swinging around at nothing for about three hours, and then I was getting mauled by nothing. But there were lots of special effects and I remember it being an exhausting night at work, but a pretty fun one.”
Stranger Things 4 Volume 2: First Look Images
It all leads to an emotional scene where Eddie essentially bleeds out in Dustin’s arms, a tender moment that Quinn calls a “lovely ending to this kind of mad crescendo to all of this action.” It’s one that no doubt hits especially hard for fans after seeing Eddie and Dustin’s relationship develop so much in just one season, particularly after that aforementioned scene in the meadow.
It’s also in Part 2 that we see just how much Eddie really cares for Dustin. Quinn theorizes that Eddie probably sees a bit of himself in Dustin, but also says he was likely drawn to him due to his authenticity.
“Dustin is very funny, and he's very himself, and I think anyone who's kind of very authentically themselves, I tend to really like them and I think we all do. I think people who tend to be disingenuous, pretend to kind of be flawless, we tend to be pretty weary of. And I think Dustin doesn't pretend to be anyone except for who he is. So I think he finds that kind of quite charming.”
"It feels a little unfair that he's kind of paid the ultimate price and no one knows.
“
As for the other connections we saw Eddie make throughout the show, he had a brief interaction with ill-fated cheerleader Chrissy (Grace Van Dien) before watching her become Vecna’s victim, and fans of the show immediately picked up on the chemistry between the two. That chemistry may not have been only in their imaginations: in the finale, Eddie goes on to dedicate his Upside Down concert to her.
So… did Eddie have a crush on Chrissy?
“I think kind of… yes. I think he did,” Quinn says. “I think, playing with archetypes, especially in American high school, I don't think you'd ever put those two together. But they get to know each other more in Episode 1 and there's kind of potential there, and then something horrible happens. I think the concert, for him, was more about avenging her as a person rather than anything romantic. But yeah, I think there could've been potential for some kind of liaison of some kind.”
Unfortunately, Eddie’s journey on the show comes to an especially sad ending when you consider that his name has been dragged through the mud in Hawkins and the media at large, with no one aside from our core crew knowing his sacrifice, and instead demonizing him as one of the potential reasons for the “earthquake” that devastated the Indiana town.
Even though he’s not on the show anymore, Quinn still does hope that Eddie’s name is someday cleared.
“It would be nice,” he says. “I think it feels a little unfair that he's kind of paid the ultimate price and no one knows. But maybe that's the way it's meant to be. Unfortunately, the grown-ups decide that, not me. So we'll see.”
