Like the first three installments, Stranger Things season 4 introduces a number of new characters, with Joseph Quinn and Eduardo Franco being among the newcomers to the cast. The two rising stars join the hit Netflix series as Eddie Munson and Argyle, respectively.
“I’m new to this show and at the same time, Argyle’s character is new to their crazy a** lives,” Franco tells ET’s Will Marfuggi.
Most famous for his roles on American Vandal and Booksmart, the 27-year-old actor plays Jonathan’s (Charlie Heaton) new best friend who delivers pizzas for Surfer Boy Pizza in California, where the Byers family has moved to after leaving Hawkins, Indiana, at the end of season 3.
A typical stoner-type character, Argyle finds himself unexpectedly sucked into the chaos that finds Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), Will (Noah Schnapp) and Jonathan. “The wild a** sh*t that they’ve been through — it’s just so nuts,” Franco says of Argyle’s newfound friends.
For the actor, filming the new season was a meta experience. “That was the parallel between me and Argyle,” he recalls. “I’m experiencing their show and their stuff for the first time. And then Argyle is experiencing life-threatening situations that they’re almost desensitized to. They’re used to anything. You can throw anything at them.”
He adds, “They’re like, ‘All right, here we go.’ For Argyle, it’s like, ‘What are you talking about?’”
Meanwhile, back in Hawkins, Eddie finds himself mixed up in the mystery that opens season 4 and leads the town to grow suspicious of the eccentric ‘80s metalhead who runs the Hellfire Club, the high school’s official D&D group, which Mike (Finn Wolfhard) and Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) are members of.
As Eddie, the 29 year-old British actor, who previously appeared on HBO’s Game of Thrones and Catherine the Great, eventually teams up with Nancy (Natalia Dyer), Steve (Joe Keery) and Robin (Maya Hawke) as the latest battle with the Upside Down takes hold in Hawkins.
While he says joining the series was initially “daunting,” Quinn is “grateful” for the experience. “They’re really nice people, and it was everything that you’d expect,” he adds of his new co-stars. “It’s a good thing to go somewhere strange with a bunch of strangers and then leave that place with really dear friends.”
When it comes to all the crazy scenes that the two newcomers get to do alongside the original stars, “shooting that stuff was incredible,” Franco says. “It was amazing and so awesome to be a part of something like that.”
“It felt so cool,” he adds.
In addition to Franco and Quinn, season 4 introduces Tom Wlaschiha as Dimitri, Nikola Đuričko as Yuri, Sherman Augustus as Lt. Colonel Sullivan, Mason Dye as Jason Carver, Ed Amatrudo as Warden Hatch, Amybeth McNulty as Vickie, with Twilight star Jamie Campbell Bower as Peter Ballard and horror icon Robert Englund as Victor Creel.
While Franco and Quinn are just two of the many new faces, given how much they have to do in the first part of season 4 dropping on May 27, they will definitely be among the breakout stars and fan-favorite characters.
But given how high the stakes are this season, everyone — from the OGs to the newcomers — are “in real, real danger,” Dyer says, with Quinn adding that feeling is “applicable to every storyline.”
“It’s not just that one storyline is kind of the main artery. Every single storyline is kind of filled with peril and danger,” he teases.
The first seven episodes of Stranger Things season 4 premieres May 27 on Netflix.