The newest addition to "Stranger Things" arrived in Season 4 of Netflix's sci-fi/fantasy series with the intensity of a 10-ton Metallica riff when Eddie Munson jumped on a table in the Hawkins High cafeteria and proclaimed that forced conformity was "the real monster!"
It was clear then that Munson, played by Joseph Quinn, was a different sort of misfit among the other '80s-era AV club nerds we've come to know and love since the series debuted six years ago. The intense leader of the Dungeons & Dragons-obsessed "Hellfire Club" is an avid (and appropriately long-haired) heavy metal fan. A stoner who's repeated 12th grade more times than anyone can remember. And his Slayer-meets-"Wayne's World" fashion sense promises to be the inspiration for one of 2022's most popular Halloween costumes.
Now's the time to stop reading if you have not finished the entire fourth season of "Stranger Things," the final two episodes of which premiered last week — because there are major spoilers ahead. And Munson, who is called a "loser" and demonized by many in his Indiana small town, plays a critical role in fighting the show's true villain, Vecna. British actor Quinn spoke to the L.A. Times about the wig he wears to play Eddie, what it's like to fight a swarm of demobats with a broom and Munson's fate in the season finale of the Duffer Brothers' blockbuster. The following has been edited for clarity.
