50 Fun Facts About Stranger Things Season 2

On Halloween in Stranger Things 2, Mike, Will, Dustin and Lucas wear matching costumes from which hit film?

Ghostbusters is the boys' new favorite movie as eighth grade begins: the season is set in the fall of 1984, only months after the film reached theaters that June.

In Stranger Things 2, Joyce's boyfriend Bob Newby runs the Hawkins branch of which electronics chain?

RadioShack is Bob's workplace, and the set dressers stocked it faithfully: an Armatron, a product the chain really sold at the time, sits on a shelf above his head.

In Stranger Things 2, which candy bar does Dustin feed the slimy creature he adopts, inspiring its name?

Three Musketeers nougat wins the creature over, so Dustin names it D'Artagnan, Dart for short. The same treat later persuades a much bigger Dart to let his friends pass.

In Stranger Things 2, how does the possessed Will secretly tell his family to close the gate?

Tapping out Morse code on his chair lets Will slip a message past the Mind Flayer while his family and Mike keep it busy with happy memories of his childhood.

Which star of The Goonies joined Stranger Things 2 as Joyce's kind-hearted boyfriend, Bob Newby?

Sean Astin made his film debut as Mikey in The Goonies, one of the 1980s adventure films the Duffer Brothers name as an influence on the series.

In Stranger Things 2, which arcade game does new girl Max top, knocking Dustin off first place?

Dig Dug shows Max's alias MADMAX above Dustin's old high score, which gives Chapter One its title. Chapter Five is named after the game itself.

Which chart-topping ballad plays as Mike and Eleven slow-dance at the end of Stranger Things 2?

Every Breath You Take by The Police soundtracks the dance and the kiss that follows, a scene that won Best Musical Moment at the 2018 MTV Movie & TV Awards.

In Stranger Things 2, where has Hopper been secretly hiding Eleven for almost a year?

A cabin in the woods that once belonged to Hopper's grandfather becomes Eleven's home, on the strict condition that she never leaves it.

The Super Bowl teaser for Stranger Things 2 used a vintage 1980s ad for which brand loved by Eleven?

Eggo waffles maker Kellogg's had no part in the first season, but supplied the old commercial once it saw what the show was doing for the brand.

In Stranger Things 2, what do Joyce, Jonathan and Nancy use to drive the Mind Flayer out of Will's body?

Intense heat from a stove, space heaters and finally a red-hot poker forces the Mind Flayer out. The possessed Will had been demanding that his house be kept cold.

In Stranger Things 2, new student Max and her stepbrother Billy have moved to Hawkins from which state?

California is where Max lived until her parents divorced and her mother remarried, a move to Indiana that she and her volatile stepbrother both resent.

In Stranger Things 2, which crop mysteriously rots in fields around Hawkins as tunnels spread underground?

Pumpkins are the first sign of trouble: Hopper inspects the blighted patches in the days before Halloween, then digs into one and finds a tunnel that looks like the Upside Down.

In Stranger Things 2, what weapon does Steve swing to protect Dustin, Lucas and Max from a pack of Demodogs?

A nail-studded bat that Jonathan first made to fight the Demogorgon becomes Steve's signature weapon, known to his friends simply as The Bat.

In Stranger Things 2, what self-described job does Steve take on as he protects Dustin and the younger kids?

Babysitter is Steve's own word for his new role, and fans ran with it: the former king of Hawkins High became an internet meme as the group's protective mom or dad.

The kids of Stranger Things 2 name the Mind Flayer after a monster from which tabletop role-playing game?

Dungeons & Dragons shapes how the party understands every monster: Dustin and Mike borrow the name of an existing creature from the game for the shadow that possesses Will.

Stranger Things 2 reveals which first name Terry Ives gave her baby before the girl became known as Eleven?

Jane is what her mother called her, and by the season's end the name sits beside a new surname, once Hopper is able to adopt Eleven legally.

In Stranger Things 2, where does Dustin find the strange creature Dart after a night of trick-or-treating?

In his trash can, Dustin finds what he takes for an undiscovered species. He smuggles it to school the next day, where Will recognizes its cry from his visions.

In Stranger Things 2, what does a jealous Eleven do on finding Mike talking with Max at school?

Eleven knocks Max off her skateboard from a distance with her mind. She has mistaken an argument for flirting, and she slips away before Mike ever sees her.

In Stranger Things 2, what do Will's hundreds of drawings form when Bob pieces them together?

A map of the town is what puzzle-lover Bob spots in the tangle of scribbles, and it leads Joyce to the exact spot where Hopper is trapped below ground.

In Stranger Things 2, what does Bob Newby volunteer to do at Hawkins Lab before the Demodogs kill him?

Bob offers to reset the breakers because nobody else knows how to bring the lights back and unlock the doors. His success lets Joyce, Hopper, Mike and Will escape.

In Stranger Things 2, Eleven runs away to which big city, where she finds Kali and a gang of punk outcasts?

Chicago is where Kali's gang hides out, and Eleven is the only main character who sets foot there: Mike and Hopper appear only in her visions and flashbacks.

In Stranger Things 2, what psychic ability does Kali, Hawkins Lab's subject 008, use to escape the police?

Casting illusions lets Kali make pursuers see whatever she chooses: in the season's opening chase, a police driver swerves to a stop before a tunnel collapse that never happens.

In Stranger Things 2, which emotion does Kali teach Eleven to channel in order to strengthen her powers?

Anger, summoned from a painful memory, lets Eleven move a railcar with her mind, and she draws on the same lesson to close the gate under Hawkins Lab.

In Stranger Things 2, which conspiracy theorist hired by Barb's parents helps Nancy and Jonathan expose the lab?

Murray Bauman persuades the pair to water their story down so that the public will believe it, then pushes them into admitting their feelings for each other.

In Stranger Things 2, what watered-down account of Barb's death do Nancy and Jonathan send to newspapers?

A chemical poisoning blamed on the lab is the version readers will accept, and the scandal it causes is enough to force Hawkins Lab to close a month later.

In Stranger Things 2, what does Dr. Owens first blame for Will's terrifying visions of the Upside Down?

Post-traumatic stress is the diagnosis, which Dr. Owens ties to the approaching anniversary of the night Will vanished. The theory collapses once the shadow in those visions seizes him.

In Stranger Things 2, what advice from Bob backfires when Will tries it on the shadow monster?

Bob tells Will to face his fears without knowing what the boy is really seeing, so Will stands his ground and the shadow monster pours into him.

Which actress, a former Broadway Annie, joined Stranger Things 2 as the arcade champion Max Mayfield?

Sadie Sink was first judged too old for Max at 14, but she begged for more material to read and won the part after four callbacks.

Which Aliens actor plays Dr. Sam Owens, the scientist who takes charge of Hawkins Lab in Stranger Things 2?

Paul Reiser was in the plan from the start: the Duffer Brothers' pitch to Netflix simply called the character Paul Reiser, a nod to his villainous Carter Burke in Aliens.

Which Stranger Things 2 actor won MTV's Most Frightened Performance award as the possessed Will Byers?

Noah Schnapp had only a recurring part in season one, when Will was missing for most of the story; his promotion to the main cast came just before this award-winning turn.

What is the name of the Hawkins Middle School winter dance where Stranger Things 2 reaches its happy ending?

The Snow Ball gives nearly everyone a partner: Lucas and Max share a kiss, Eleven arrives to dance with Mike, and chaperone Nancy rescues a rejected Dustin with a dance of her own.

Which sharp-tongued younger sibling of Lucas, played by Priah Ferguson, makes her debut in Stranger Things 2?

Erica began as a recurring guest who mocks Lucas and his friends as nerds; in the third season she joins the adventure herself, helping to infiltrate a Russian base beneath the mall.

In Stranger Things 2, which Hawkins mother does Billy flirt with at her home while he is hunting for Max?

Karen Wheeler, mother of Mike and Nancy, is plainly charmed by the visit, and her attraction to Billy carries over into the start of the next season.

Stranger Things 2 reveals that Billy's cruelty toward Max stems from abuse by which relative of his?

His father, Neil Hargrove, abuses Billy verbally and physically at home, and Max explains that the hostility began when Neil married her mother.

In Stranger Things 2, how does Max stop her stepbrother Billy after he beats Steve unconscious?

Max jabs him with a sedative left over from keeping Will under, then makes the groggy Billy promise to leave her and her friends alone.

In Stranger Things 2, what does the cornered lab worker Ray tell Eleven and Kali about Dr. Martin Brenner?

Ray pleads that he is still alive, trading the claim for mercy. Brenner had seemingly been killed by the Demogorgon at the end of the first season.

In Stranger Things 2, what does Eleven notice that makes her spare Ray, who harmed her mother?

A photo of his children stops Eleven mid-attack. His two young girls are hiding in the apartment and are already calling the police.

Stranger Things 2 reveals that Dr. Brenner silenced Eleven's mother, Terry Ives, with a dose of what?

Shock therapy left Terry repeating the same few phrases, her punishment for storming Hawkins Lab with a gun to take back the baby she was told had died.

Which Pixar filmmaker directed two chapters of Stranger Things 2, including the one titled The Spy?

Andrew Stanton, the Oscar-winning director of Finding Nemo and WALL-E, took charge of Chapters Five and Six, his first episodes as a television director.

Which Community actor hosted Beyond Stranger Things, the Netflix aftershow for Stranger Things 2?

Jim Rash, the dean on Community, led the cast and the Duffer Brothers through discussions designed to be watched only after finishing the whole season.

Which Australian actor, the Red Ranger in 2017's Power Rangers, plays Billy Hargrove in Stranger Things 2?

Dacre Montgomery's audition tape for the menacing stepbrother went viral, and director Gus Van Sant later cast him in a film on the strength of it.

After her punk makeover in Stranger Things 2, which slang word of approval does Eleven keep repeating?

Bitchin' was among the favorite lines of Entertainment Weekly's reviewer, who called Eleven's repeated use of the word adorable.

Which Stranger Things 2 chapter leaves Hawkins behind entirely to follow Eleven's trip to meet Kali's gang?

The Lost Sister was titled The Lost Brother in early drafts, when Eleven's sibling was written as a 30-year-old man who grew up homeless.

At the dance that ends Stranger Things 2, Eleven wears a blue bracelet of Hopper's that began as what?

His daughter's hair tie became the bracelet: she wore it before she died, and Hopper kept it on his wrist through two seasons before Eleven puts it on for the dance.

Eleven's punk makeover in Stranger Things 2 was partly modeled on the 1980s style of which pop star?

Madonna and her 1980s blazers inspired costume designer Kim Wilcox, who wanted Eleven to look slightly more pop culture but still punk.

Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein, who composed the synth score of Stranger Things 2, belong to which Texas band?

Survive formed in Austin in 2009, and the pair's title theme for the series had already won an Emmy a month before the second season arrived.

Stranger Things 2 earned a dozen Primetime Emmy nominations and won in which technical category?

Sound editing brought the season its Emmy, while its nominations elsewhere included Outstanding Drama Series and acting nods for David Harbour and Millie Bobby Brown.

Which film star played Eleven in a Saturday Night Live sketch spoofing the Stranger Things 2 chapter about Kali?

Natalie Portman's Eleven seeks out other gifted test subjects, only to find abilities as feeble as a nose that bleeds whenever its owner makes chili.

The Stranger Things 2 Blu-ray set, sold only through Target, came in packaging made to look like what?

A VHS cassette in the style of vintage CBS-FOX video releases housed the discs, with collectible behind-the-scenes postcards tucked inside.

In Terry Ives's memories in Stranger Things 2, young Eleven plays in a lab room marked by which symbol?

A rainbow marks the door behind which Terry finds two small girls playing, and the sight of the second child sends Eleven off to look for her.