Netflix

These are the real ages of the Stranger Things cast in season 5, alongside the ages of their characters

Time does not pass in vain... Or it does, if you’re in Hawkins.

Update: Jul 17th, 2025 23:39 CEST

It’s been many years since Stranger Things came to Netflix. In those days, streaming platforms lookingt to create content that was the real reason behind the subscription. And while House of Cards and Orange is the New Black were stalwarts of those early years, Stranger Things became an important piece when it debuted in 2016, and its characters are 11 years old. By the time Stranger Things Season 5 premieres in the fall of 2025, more than nine years will have passed since the series’ debut, but the show’s timeline will only have moved forward about four years.

The first season began in the fall of 1983, and the fifth season will pick up the story in the fall of 1987. This means that while Millie Bobby Brown and Eleven were 11 or 12 years old in the first season, the actress will be 20 years old during the filming of the fifth, while her character will only be around 16. These larger differences in the group of teenagers have been seen as a problem, but in reality, they align with the original Stranger Things casting trend for older characters.

When the Stranger Things timeline began, Steve Harrington was approximately 16 or 17 years old, while Joe Keery was around 23 years old. Similarly, Jonathan Byers was 16 during the first season, and Charlie Heaton was about 21. Meanwhile, Natalia Dyer was 20 years old compared to her character, Nancy Wheeler, who was between 15 and 16.

Ages of the actors and their characters in Stranger Things

Actor	Season 1 Age	Season 5 Age	Character	Season 5 Age
Joe Keery	23		Steve Harrington	21
Charlie Heaton		30	Jonathan Byers	20
Natalia Dyer		29	Nancy Wheeler	20
Millie Bobby Brown		20	Eleven	16
Finn Wolfhard		22	Mike Wheeler	16
Caleb McLaughlin		23	Lucas Sinclair	16
Gaten Matarazzo		22	Dustin Henderson	16
Noah Schnapp		19	Will Byers	16

Given that there have only been five seasons in nearly a decade, it makes sense that it’s harder to accept that the “kids” in Stranger Things are now the same age as the original “teens” in the first season.