Joe Keery
Next seen in Free Guy (July 3, 2020).
Like his best pal Matarazzo, Keery is also leaning further into his comedic side for his next role. His upcoming schedule is light for now, but he has chosen a movie that’s bound to be a hit at the 2020 summer box office.
Free Guy stars Ryan Reynolds as a bank teller who’s really a non-playable character in a video game. Keery is among a strong supporting cast that includes Taika Waititi, Jodie Comer, and Channing Tatum.
Of all the Stranger Things gang, Keery is most likely to become a blockbuster leading man in the conventional sense. His character, Steve, is a popular heartthrob. As the story evolves, however, he transforms from a typical ladies man into a fully-fledged hero with depth. He’d be a good fit in any movie that requires a charming leading man with some flaws. Hollywood loves those characters.
Priah Ferguson
No upcoming projects.
Standing out in an ensemble show isn’t always easy, but Ferguson’s character, Erica, is another welcome dose of hilarious comic relief in Season 3. While the previous season saw her annihilate her older brother Lucas with some witty wisecracks here and there, this time we saw her become a regular — and rightfully so.
While Ferguson is not due to star in any announced TV shows or movies in the near future, she still has a big career ahead of her. She’s only 12 years old after all, and with every episode of Stranger Things she shows up in, she leaves us wanting to see more of her antics. She’ll play an important part in Season 4. These nerds need their sassy counterpart.
Brett Gelman
Next seen in Magari (August 7, 2019) and Chuck Hank and the San Diego Twins (release date TBA).
As someone who’s spent a lot of time writing about conspiracy theories for this very site in the past, Murray is, naturally, a character I can relate to. The former investigative reporter is your standard crazy bearded tinfoil-hat weirdo who operates on the fringes of what’s considered a normal life, and Gelman plays the role with aplomb.
Stranger Things and Fleabag have allowed Gelman to showcase his ability in two well-received shows this year. His next on-screen roles, however, will see him star in indie flicks. The first is Magari, a drama about children of divorce who head to Rome to find their father.
Chuck Hank and the San Diego Twins is essentially a video game-inspired fable about a turf war between rival gangs in the titular city, which leads to all hell breaking loose. Fans of Bellflower ought to add this one to their list, as it features some of that film’s creators. It’s going to be a crazy ride.
Dacre Montgomery
Next seen in The Broken Heart Gallery (release date TBA).
Billy’s unpredictable and violent nature made him a perfect host for the Mind Flayer in Season 3. He spent most of the two seasons he was in as an antagonist, but he was a sympathetic prick due to his rough home life and abusive upbringing. At the end of Season 3, he sacrifices himself to save the gang — just when we all changed our minds about him.
Montgomery has been drawn towards genre fare for the most part during his young career thus far. He was in the fantastic — and unexpectedly brutal — Christmas horror yarn Better Watch Out, which saw him endure a worse fate than he did in Stranger Things. Elsewhere, he was the Red Ranger in the moody Power Rangers reboot. He likes to play characters who don’t experience joy in their lives.
His next movie will see him turn misery into happiness, though. The Broken Heart Gallery is a romantic comedy about a lonely museum creator who collects things related to break-ups. In the movie, Montgomery plays a hotel owner who lets the protagonist put on her exhibitions, which leads to her falling in love again. Here’s hoping he doesn’t die in this one.
Maya Hawke
Next seen in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (July 26, 2019), Mainstream (release date TBA), Human Capital (release date TBA), As They Slept (release date TBA), and Memory Xperiment: Kathy Acker (release date TBA).
Hawke’s breakout performance is another highlight of Season 3. The daughter of Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman, in the show she plays Robin, a bored Scoops Ahoy employee who’s able to decipher Russian codes and speak multiple languages. She’s also the first confirmed LGBTQ+ character to show up in Hawkins, which makes her introduction to Stranger Things even more special.
Her upcoming schedule contains some interesting projects as well. Up first is Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, in which she’ll play Flower Girl. Not much is known about her character yet, but in a movie that features hippies and Charles Manson, it’s easy to connect the dots.
She’ll also star alongside Andrew Garfield in Gia Coppola’s Mainstream, which centers around a group of lovers as they try to find their place in the modern world. After that, she’ll star in Human Capital, which follows two families whose children end up in an accident. Both of these movies will allow Hawke to showcase her dramatic chops in stories that are more grounded than sci-fi horror shows and Quentin Tarantino alternate history movies.
Lastly, she’ll also appear in a pair of short films: As They Slept and Memory Xperiment: Kathy Acker. Short films don’t get the attention they deserve at the best of times, but both of these projects will put Hawke front and center, away from the overcrowding associated with larger ensemble casts.
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