Stranger Things actors Sadie Sink and Priah Ferguson: As actors and characters, we’ve evolved so much, it’s kind of cool

It has been seven years and four seasons that sci-fi horror drama Strangers Things has been wooing audiences across age groups. And now, as season 4 nears its finale, the cast members feel “overwhelmed” looking at the journey it has been so far.

“All the characters have evolved and matured so much in these years. It’s sort of crazy to look back at the previous seasons and see how much we have grown as humans, as actors — and not just on the show but even with the interviews and with everything we’ve been through together,” says Sadie Sink aka Max Mayfield, adding, “We are in such different places now [as individuals] and it’s just amazing to look at the people we have become. It’s kind of cool.”

During a conversation with us in Sydney, Australia for the fan event of Stranger Things 4, Sadie and Priah Ferguson aka Erica Sinclair spoke about their character arcs and what is it that’s in for store for audiences to watch out in the upcoming volume of season 4.

“I think Erica character is just full of surprises. In volume one of this season, she steps in as a leader and comes to the realisation that she is a nerd, so you get to see her play around with that. I don’t want to say much but in volume two, you will get to see what more she has to offer. So far, she has contributed well to the team and she is very resourceful, so you are going to get to see more of her personality and who she is and all that great stuff,” shares Priah, who plays the sister to one of the main characters — Lucas Sinclair (actor Caleb McLaughlin) — on the Netflix show.

Sadie’s Max entered the show in its second season and it was quite an intense portrayal with a character that won’t talk much and struggled to fit in.

“Yeah, Max has always been very closed off in most part of season two, but in third season showed a more fun side of her and that was really nice to play with. Now even season four, she again goes back to her season two mindset initially, and then it gets even more intensified in terms of just shutting herself off [after being attacked by Vecna’s curse and the entire Dear Billy episode],” recalls Sadie, admitting that when she first appeared on the show, she was very young, and “I was still kind of getting comfortable in front of the camera”.

Stranger Things blends a host of genres in one show — horror, thrill, sci-fi, drama, dark humour and friendship. We asked Priah and Sadie what is it they connect with the most and enjoyed doing on the show.

Priah tells us, “I think friendship plays a big role in the show and it somewhat anchors the whole group [Will, Mike, Lucas, Dustin, Eleven and others], back to each other no matter how apart they are. You see in season four how their bond brings them back together to resolve the bigger issue (fight outworldly monsters) in the end, and that’s what I really like more about the show.”

Sadie goes a bit deeper in her thoughts and shares it’s the emotional stuff that she gets drawn to the most. “My favourite stuff to film is of course when it’s doing the supernatural things and heavy scenes; that’s fub. But what I personally like to do is stuff that’s a little more grounded, where you get to play real with human emotions and all those things. And you are going to see a lot of that in season four,” she says.

Given that season four has been split into two volumes, many felt audiences might lose interest or leave watching the show half way. However, Sadie feels a show like this needs time both for makers as well as the audiences. “It’s nice to have people like the show, savour it, and kind of drag it out a bit more. Also, as for the creative team, I think they needed more time to edit the season finale… I mean it’s a horrible beast, so better to make sure it looks good on screen,” she wraps up.

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