Stranger Things star says season 4 villain is 'a real wink to the great horror baddies of the past'
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The Duffer Brothers have called Stranger Things 4 their Game of Thrones season. It just so happens that there are a couple veterans from that fantasy epic among the cast. One of them is Joe Quinn.
He's not as recognizable as, say, Kit Harington or Emilia Clarke, but he does have a claim to fame: Quinn played one of the Winterfell guards laughing in disbelief at Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) when she arrives to reunite with her sister in the final season.
"It was such good fun," the actor told EW of that cameo. "I was a big fan of the show. It was fun to have a sword and be in Winterfell. I remember thinking that was quite cool."
Genre fans will more easily remember Quinn's face after the season 4 premiere of Stranger Things this May 27. He arrives in the town of Hawkins, Indiana, in the crucial role of Eddie Munson, a total metalhead and leader of the Hellfire Club, Hawkins High's diehard Dungeons & Dragons crew that includes Mike (Finn Wolfhard) and Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo). "I don't think it's a part-time gig," Quinn says of Eddie. "It's a real lifestyle."
Tina Rowden/Netflix Joseph Quinn plays Eddie Munson, head of the Hawkins High 'Dungeons & Dragons' club, in 'Stranger Things' season 4.
Stranger Things is a different beast than Thrones. Instead of dragons and dire wolves, Quinn's dealing with demo-bats. But he does agree with the Duffers' comparison in terms of scope.
"Some of the stuff that we got to do..." he says before a pause, "... that I can't talk about, was great." (That's another similarity: Spoilers.)"There was one sequence in the woods. It was a night shoot. We got there and the whole forest was lit up. It was so thrilling. There's some sequences in it that are just…" He pauses again. "It's going to be massive, I think."
While some of season 2, which is split up into two parts, takes viewers to a California suburb and a Russian internment camp, the Hawkins arc is a mix of "David Cronenberg genre horror and Scooby-Doo," Quinn says. "It's weird. There's this group of kids in the face of adversity and trying to get through it, but it's dark."
That vibe comes from the new demo-monster in town: Vecna. Though the actor can't speak to specifics (again, spoilers) we can piece together some things. Vecna is the name of a prominent undead sorcerer from D&D who grew so powerful he became deified. Eddie is, perhaps, the D&D expert in Hawkins. It should come as no surprised he's heavily involved in the mysterious goings-on involving this entity from the Upside Down.
One thing Quinn can say: "The big threat in this season is a real wink to the great horror baddies of the past. I think people will really respond to it."
Volume I of Stranger Things season 4 will premiere this May 27 with Volume II dropping July 1 on Netflix.
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