‘Stranger Things’ Cast Audition Tapes Revealed

Thanks to their performances in Stranger Things, the series’ young cast have become some of the most lauded and sought-after talents of their age-range, a fact that’s especially impressive given that they’re all still in junior high. All that fame and notoriety had to start somewhere, and the Netflix series Beyond Stranger Things shared the young cast’s audition tapes, which you can see below.

Featured in the clip are Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, Noah Schnepp and Caleb McLaughlin. While the actors may have appeared in various works before Stranger Things, there’s no question that the series served as their breakout roles, immediately developing a passionate fan following.

Debuting last summer, the show’s first season was a surprise hit, with Netflix giving the series very little marketing attention until the weeks before its debut. The biggest names attached to the project were Winona Ryder and Matthew Modine, neither of which had sparked immediate interest in a project over the last few years.

The show took the world by storm in the weeks and months following its release, showcasing that you don’t need big stars to tell a successful story, but can rely on a compelling narrative and believable chemistry amongst a cast, even if audiences don’t recognize them.

In addition to fans falling in love with the performers, the Screen Actors Guild also took note of the series’ accomplishments and its blend of talent from various age ranges, presenting the series the award for Best Ensemble in a Drama Series. The first season also helped launch some of the stars’ careers into bigger franchises, with Wolfhard scoring a role in this year’s adaptation of IT, which has become the highest-grossing horror film of all time, and David Harbour embracing the iconic role of Hellboy in an upcoming film.

The second season of the series debuted last week, once again dominating the world of pop culture and social media. Given that the first season came as such a surprise to so many viewers, the expectations of the second season were incredibly high, with much of the response to the new episodes being positive, albeit not without its flaws.

Stranger Things 2 is now streaming on Netflix.