Stranger Things star Winona Ryder has seemingly taken a swipe at her co-star, Millie Bobby Brown.
It’s hard to believe that it’s been eight years sinceStranger Things first burst onto the scene. Premiering on Netflix in July 2016, the show – which was created by the Duffer Brothers – is set in the 1980s in the eerie, fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana, where a group of kids stumble upon terrifying supernatural events while searching for their missing friend.
Blending horror, sci-fi, and a hefty dose of ’80s nostalgia, the show rapidly became a global phenomenon – as did its stars. While some of its cast includes seasoned actors like Winona Ryder (Joyce Byers) and David Harbour (Chief Jim Hopper), its younger cast is often considered to steal the show.
Finn Wolfhard (Mike Wheeler), Noah Schnapp (Will Byers), Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin Henderson), Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas Sinclair), and Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven) have all been praised for their work in the series, with the latter proving to be its breakout star.
Now 20 years old (and technically known as Millie Bobby Brown Bongiovi since marrying Jake Bongiovi earlier this year), Brown has gone on to sign a lucrative Netflix deal.
Alongside reprising the role of Eleven in the second, third, fourth, and upcoming fifth – and final – season ofStranger Things, she’s also fronted the likes of theEnola Holmes franchise for the streaming service, plus Damsel (2024) and the upcoming adaptation of her debut novel “Nineteen Things.”
Her performance on the show is still consistently well-received, with the latest season pulling in even more accolades than usual.
“Brown beautifully, wordlessly played the emotions that were roiling inside of her alter ego,” wrote TVLine in response to her efforts in “Chapter Eight: Papa.” “The scene was complex, deep and tricky to navigate, especially without any dialogue on her part. Yet Brown led us through it as surely as a lantern through a dark night.”
However, the actress has also generated some controversy around her attitude towards the show. In 2023, she claimed thatStranger Things “takes up a lot of time to film, and it’s preventing me from creating stories that I’m passionate about. So I’m ready to say, ‘Thank you, and goodbye.'” Brown has also raised eyebrows for the amount of time she’s spent off the set of the show’s fifth season this year.
Now, more controversy is rumbling around the actress, as some fans have taken her co-star’s words as a slight against Brown’s attitude.
Winona Ryder Opens up About ‘Stranger Things’ (And Slights Millie Bobby Brown)
Winona Ryder – who shares plenty of screen time with Brown on the show, acting as her mother figure from season four onwards – recently addressed her time on the show during the press tour for the upcoming Beetlejuice Beetlejuice(2024).
In a profile by the Los Angeles Times, it was mentioned that Ryder often “gets frustrated when there is a lack of curiosity among her more junior colleagues” about the film industry.
“I don’t mean to sound so hopeless,” she told the magazine. “There are a few that are just not interested in movies. Like, the first thing they say is, ‘How long is it?'”
Ryder notably praised Wolfhard for his personal interest in filmand highlightedWednesdaystar Jenna Ortega—who stars as her daughter inBeetlejuice Beetlejuice—forher passion. As fans noted, however, Brown has previously been open about her lack of interest in film.
“People come up to me and say, ‘You should definitely watch this movie, it would change your life,'” Brown said in a viral interview earlier this year. “I’m like, ‘How long do I have to sit there for?’ Because my brain and I don’t even like sitting for my own movies.”
Fans were further convinced that Ryder isn’t on the best terms with Brown when she addressed Stranger Things in a separate Esquireinterview.
“Ten years! I never thought,” Ryder said about her time on the show. “[At first] I was like, ‘I don’t want to be doing this when I’m in my fifties!’ It’s nuts, and it’s extra nuts to be my age. But I love the boys, and I love [the actors] Sadie [Sink] and Maya [Hawke]. It’s been really wonderful.”
The most notable omission from the list of those Ryder loves on set is, of course, Brown. While Ryder also didn’t mention the likes of Natalia Dyer (Nancy Wheeler), Brown is someone with whom she comparatively shares much more screentime.
Are you excited for the final season ofStranger Things?
