We all loved Steve and Dustin in season 2, but who will be the new Steve and Dustin in Stranger Things 3?
Nancy and Mike
Source: nancywheelersource
At the end of season 1 after almost an entire season apart, we saw Mike and Nancy come to the realization that they could’ve understood why the other was ‘acting weird’ if they had just talked to one another.
“No more secrets,” Nancy had said. “From now on we tell each other everything.”
It was statement that Mike agreed to, even if neither sibling could openly admit to their romantic feelings at that moment for Eleven and Jonathan respectively.
Still, I had hoped that the two recognizing that they were better off being honest and open with one another would lead to more interaction between the two in season 2 — that we would see the siblings use their shared trauma to lean on another and support each other through a difficult time.
Unfortunately, season 2 had the Wheeler siblings interact with each other even less than they had in season 1. Rather than becoming closer due to their shared trauma, it seemed as though each sibling only retreated further into their own secrets.
I hope that season 3 will give me what I wanted in season 2 — Nancy and Mike becoming closer because of their shared traumatic history and supporting each other as brother and sister.
Will and El
Source: arthurpenhaligons
Honestly, part of this is just me wanting Noah and Millie to have a scene where they’re actually both conscious and/or in the same universe at the same exact time.
It’s been two full seasons and I don’t think these two have shared a single scene together where they get to interact, which is a damn shame given that they’re both tremendously talented child actors who are likewise best friends in real life.
It’d also be an emotionally fulfilling storyline for both characters. Both Eleven (are we meant to call her Jane now?) and Will have spent more time in the upside down than any other character. They’ve experienced its horrors directly in a way that no other characters have and have been forced to endure an absurd amount of trauma because of it.
This gives them a deeply affecting connection despite never really having spoken directly to each other. I’d love to see how they’ve been bound by the invisible threads of this shared trauma, and the ways in which their friendship help them get through it.
Murray and Hopper
source: blushstardust
I’m imagining a buddy cop subplot with these two characters and I’m already loving it in my head.
Murray was one of my favorite new additions in the second season; one, because I love kooky conspiracy theorist characters and two, because I loved the fact that his truth telling abilities made Jancy canon (and I wouldn’t be opposed to him working that same sort of magic on Jopper in season 3).
He’s also obviously a pretty useful and smart character, able to put together a lot of disparate story threads on his own without the benefit of having traveled to a horrific alternate universe and defeating a demogorgon.
I’d love for him and Hopper to work a case together — one that’s sure related to whatever strange things our cast of characters will have to contend with next season — all the while just barely tolerating one another in the most amusing way possible.
Max and El
The jealousy subplot between these two characters was as irritating as it was uninteresting, so rather than including a GIF of their one annoying scene together, I’m instead putting up two photos of Sadie Sink and Millie Bobby Brown being good friends in real life.
I guess I understand the motivation behind making El cold and angry toward Max. El has been largely isolated for her entire life and doesn’t necessarily understand group dynamics, so could easily see Max as being a replacement for her role in the group.
On the other hand, the fact that she doesn’t understand group dynamics also means that the show could’ve written this plot the exact opposite way as well, with El welcoming Max into the fold as just another member of the party.
For a show that already has a problem with its lack of female friendships and female relationships, the decision to bring tension between the two girls who actually have more in common than they do differences was both a misfire and missed opportunity.
I hope that this is either completely rectified at the very start of season 3 or addressed immediately toward the beginning of the season. The show has a lot of great, complex, and strong female characters. It’s time to let them interact with one another in supportive and interesting ways.
Steve and Hopper
These two don’t actually have any scenes together, which is why the photo for their section is just two different posts from David Harbour’s Instagram.
Still, despite their lack of scenes in the show, I feel like you can’t really go wrong with pairing up Stranger Things‘ two dads.
I actually think that playing these two off one another would be as fun to watch as it would be evocative and endearing. In the grand tradition of this show, we don’t actually know anything about Steve’s father other than that he seems largely absent in his life.
Hopper, though flawed in many ways, is an adopted father and father-figure who is present, caring and supportive of the kids under his watch. He’d be able to give direction and guidance to Steve, all the while rolling his eyes and sighing exasperatedly at Steve’s general well-meaning cluelessness.
There’s been a headcanon/fan theory circulating in the fandom that Steve could become Hopper’s deputy, which is a way to believably keep him around Hawkins post-graduation.
It also makes sense, given what we saw of Steve in the back half of the season. He’d be able to channel his very obvious desire to protect those around him, would be able to keep on top of all the supernatural events in Hawkins and perhaps finally learn how not to get his ass kicked in a fight.
If I had to put money on who could be season 3’s new Dustin-and-Steve, I’d put it on these two.
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