‘Stranger Things’ Star Wants to Join the Star Wars Franchise

Gaten Matarazzo, best known for his role as creature-fighting Dustin Henderson in Netflix sci-fi fantasy series Stranger Things, wants in on Star Wars.

Asked when he’s going to get a call for Star Wars during an appearance at Salt Lake City’s FanX convention last weekend, Matarazzo said, “I want to know that too. I’m not kidding.”

The 16-year-old actor admitted he’s “obsessed” with the franchise, which he attributes to an introduction made by a family member during childhood. “My uncle from Michigan came to visit me for a summer when I was six years old, and he got me obsessed with Star Wars,” Matarazzo said.

The panel, hosted on the eve of Matarazzo’s birthday, was interrupted by a visit by multiple Star Wars characters bearing gifts — including a squad of Stormtroopers led by Darth Vader.

“I just hugged Darth Vader and didn’t die,” Matarazzo joked. “Luke Skywalker who?”

When the topic of reboots was raised, the star had another high-profile franchise revival in mind: Jaws.

“All the reboots that I’ve wanted to be rebooted have been rebooted, and not rebooted very well. When I say, ‘Let’s redo it,’ it’s only because I want to experience the same thing that they did. It’s not because I think they should do a redo of this, just warning you,” Matarazzo said.

Matarazzo preceded carefully with one caveat — “I think most things shouldn’t be rebooted,” he said, advocating making “more room for more creativity and originality” — but gleefully described taking on the Steven Spielberg-launched franchise should it ever be remade.

“If we’re gonna reboot something, just so I can say I experienced it — I’d have to be a little bit older — but maybe Jaws, just because it’s Jaws,” Matarazzo said. “They don’t need to reboot it — it is the shark movie that started all shark movies that really haven’t been great — but Jaws is awesome, I love Jaws with a passion.”

The in-the-works third season of Matarazzo’s own horror-tinged hit Netflix series won’t release until summer 2019 — a hefty wait caused by Stranger Things being a “handcrafted show,” Cindy Holland, Netflix’s VP of Original Content, said during the Television Critics Association press tour in July.

“[Executive producers] The Duffer brothers and Shawn Levy have worked really hard, and they understand the stakes are high. They want to deliver something bigger and better than what they did last year. And so they really want to take the time to get it right.”

Both seasons of Stranger Things are available for streaming exclusively on Netflix.