The actors on Stranger Things are household names now—but it all started with a first audition.
When the Netflix sci-fi series started in 2016, nobody had ever heard of Hawkins, Indiana and the Upside Down sounded like a pineapple dessert. For casting director Carmen Cuba, the process of finding the right actors to inhibit the roles was a monumental task. Cuba and series creators Matt and Ross Duffer knew that the show needed some heavyweight child actors, so she knew approaching unknowns wasn't going to cut it.
"This was not going to be that. It was going to be such hard work. It was going to be months on end and very specific dialogue," Cuba revealed to Vanity Fair. "That was helpful because from the beginning, we said, ‘Okay, no street casting for this. We're going to start with theater schools, acting coaches, kids who have been on Broadway.'"
When the process began, not only did they begin to put the pieces together, the actors themselves were responsible for molding the characters' identities—especially Gaten Matarazzo, who would eventually be cast as Dustin.
"You couldn't have predicted or sought out somebody like Gaten," Cuba said. "He was an excellent surprise. What he brought to the character was not what we imagined. It also made us realize we didn't even have any idea what it could be until we met him."
When Millie Bobby Brown—who would be cast as Eleven and go on to earn an Emmy nomination for the show's first season at the age of 13—auditioned, she impressed with far more than just her raw acting ability.
"It was actually shocking that someone that young could do that," Cuba said. "Another thing about Millie during the audition process is that she's British and she did everything, including the Skype with the Duffers, in an American accent."
Finding somebody to play Will was hugely important because his abduction in season one is the catalyst for the events of the entire series. Luckily, Noah Schnapp appeared.
"Noah's audition was really special because it really informed our need for finding somebody who young and innocent," Carmen revealed, "but who had a strong charisma that would keep the viewers interested in why these kids were so dedicated to finding him."
When Finn Wolfhard—who would be cast as Mike—auditioned, it gave an early glimpse into his professional future.
"Finn was the funniest," Cuba said. "At a certain point, he started directing the kids and saying, ‘You do this and you do that.' Finn is now a director and I just cast his first feature. He was right to be directing those kids because he's a natural."
That's a full circle moment.
For more insight into how the Stranger Things cast came together—including Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Caleb McLaughlin and Joseph Quinn—check out the video above.
The first four seasons of Stranger Things are available on Netflix.