3 major Stranger Things characters who were almost killed off in earlier seasons

It’s hard to picture Stranger Things without the characters who’ve become the beating heart of Hawkins. Over the seasons, we’ve watched them battle creatures from the Upside Down, uncover shady government secrets, and stumble their way through the chaos of growing up. But imagine if some of those familiar faces hadn’t made it this far. What if the emotional moments, the iconic duos, and the storylines we can’t stop talking about never even happened? Surprisingly, that almost became the case.

Behind the scenes, Stranger Things has always been a series in flux, aka a world where no one, not even the most beloved characters, is completely safe. In fact, the Duffer Brothers have admitted that a few key figures came dangerously close to being written out early on. That’s right! Some of the very characters who define Stranger Things today were nearly gone before they even had the chance to leave their mark on Hawkins.

In this article, we’re taking you behind the curtain to explore the three major Stranger Things characters who were almost killed off in earlier seasons, according to the Duffer Brothers.

Eleven

It’s almost impossible to wrap your head around it, but Eleven, the character who has become synonymous with Stranger Things, nearly didn’t survive past the very first season. The girl whose powers have stunned us, whose courage has kept us riveted, and whose quiet, fragile humanity has made her unforgettable was originally meant to sacrifice herself in the first season to "save the day."

This is what the Duffer Brothers revealed in the 2018 book Stranger Things: Worlds Turned Upside Down. However, once they realized that Stranger Things might continue beyond season 1, they decided not to definitively end Eleven’s story. Not only did they know that the show would lose its core without her, but Millie Bobby Brown's performance made it clear she had to stay.

"But once we realised that the show was potentially going to go on longer than one season, we needed to leave it more up in the air, because deep down we knew the show just wouldn’t really work without Eleven. And at that point, we knew how special Millie was. If there was going to be more Stranger Things, Eleven had to come back."

Steve Harrington

The Duffer Brothers also revealed in the same book another major character who was initially supposed to meet their demise in the first season. It's none other than Steve Harrington, the character who would go on to become a fan-favorite. He was originally written to be a one-dimensional "giant douchebag” who would exit the story early on, but Steve’s fate changed thanks to Joe Keery’s performance.

It’s easy to see how Steve was going to be written out because he treated Jonathan horribly at first and, at times, even Nancy. However, we saw a huge transformation when he helped protect Nancy from the Demogorgon later in the first season. He has only become an even better person as the show has progressed. Now, it's hard to believe that he was ever a bad guy in the first place.

Jim Hopper

Last but not least is Jim Hopper (David Harbour). The gruff but deeply loyal police chief has been at the center of some of Stranger Things’ most intense and emotional moments. At the end of season 3, it seemed like Hopper had met his end in the Starcourt Mall explosion. However, season 4 revealed that he survived, captured by Russian forces and held in a prison camp in Kamchatka.

So, why did the Duffer Brothers choose to keep him alive? According to a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, the Duffer Brothers stated that there was a version of the script in which Hopper died at the end of season 3. However, they ultimately decided against it because they felt his story wasn’t finished. They felt he still had character growth left.

"It would've been very easy to kill him, but Hopper still had growing to do. We hadn't finished his story. It's important to us to be able to finish the stories we want to finish and not just be offing people for shock value."

We're so glad that the Duffer Brothers switched things around before all of these iconic characters faced permanent exits. Losing them would have drastically changed the show!