3 Stranger Things characters who left the show unexpectedly

Stranger Things doesn’t shy away from eliminating fan-favorite characters. Throughout the show’s four seasons on Netflix, we’ve lost several beloved characters unexpectedly.

More often than not, the folks who go missing are the main characters fans have had enough time to fall in love with. Of course, the Duffer Brothers’ storytelling can’t go on without these losses.

Still, that doesn’t mean it stings any less. That was especially the case when these three characters disappeared from the Stranger Things narrative.

Spoilers are ahead, so if you haven’t seen any of Stranger Things, head to Netflix and tune in.

Characters who left Stranger Things unexpectedly: Barb

Barb Holland (Shannon Purser) was the first beloved character to be whisked away from Stranger Things fans for good. What makes Barb’s story so sad is how secondary she came in Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer) and almost everyone else’s life. That is, until she went missing and was later discovered to have been killed by the Demogorgon.

Characters who left Stranger Things unexpectedly: Bob

Barb’s disappearance from the Stranger Things narrative was as unexpected as Bob Newby (Sean Astin), who came into Joyce Byers’ (Winona Ryder) life almost as quickly as he left it. After showing up for the Byers as a father figure and tech guru in their time of need, Bob took one for the team and died in a death-by Demo-dog situation in one of the most unexpected moments of Stranger Things Season 2.

Characters who left Stranger Things unexpectedly: Alexei

Finally, there’s sweet Dr. Alexei (Alec Utgoff), whose disappearance from Stranger Things might hurt the most because it didn’t come at the hands of an entity from the Upside Down. In a twist of fate, Alexei was killed by Russian soldier and hitman Grigori (Andrey Ivchenko) after Murray (Brett Gelman) left him unattended at the Hawkins carnival.

And here we thought all of these characters would live to see the day the Upside Down lost. There’s still time for more unexpected character disappearances in Stranger Things Season 5.