Stranger theories.
As “Stranger Things” gears up for its fifth and final season, Joe Chrest, who plays Ted Wheeler, reflected on a popular fan theory.
“Everyone I would talk to – especially the kids on the show – was pretty convinced that each year, they were going to find out that Ted was either in the CIA, or in cahoots with the Russians,” Chrest exclusively told The Post.
Created by the Duffer brothers, the Netflix mega-hit premiered in 2016, and will end with Season 5.
Set in the ‘80s, the sci-fi show is set in Hawkins, Indiana, following various characters such as Mike (Finn Wolfhard, 22) and Nancy (Natalia Dyer, 30) as they deal with supernatural threats from a shadowy dimension called The Upside Down.
Ted is Mike and Nancy’s dad who can often be seen sprawled in front of the TV. He’s oblivious to the supernatural part of the plot….or is he?
In past seasons of “Stranger Things,” it was revealed that Russian scientists and agents were among the villains. Hopper (David Harbour) even ended up in a Russian prison camp in Season 4. Various American spy officials have also been shown working with the shadowy Upside Down dimension.
Many viewers have theorized that Ted could secretly be a spy or a Russian agent.
“But it hasn’t materialized yet,” he said.
He did, however, find an intriguing clue. His costume to play Ted Wheeler includes wearing a wrist watch.
“The really interesting thing along those lines is that, somewhere around the end of Season 3, maybe,” he explained, he was looking at his watch, and on the bottom of it, where other watches say a company like Seiko or say “Swiss made,” Chrest’s prop watch for Ted said “made in the USSR.”
“I’ve never seen a watch say that,” he told The Post. “I was showing Matt and Ross [Duffer] and various people when I found out.”
The actor said that when he showed the Duffer brothers, they reacted by saying, “that’s really interesting.”
Chrest noted that it “fans the flames” of the conspiracy theories that Ted is in cahoots with the Russians.
“Everyone I showed it to – especially the kids – would be like, ‘Oh!’”
Gaten Matarazzo, who stars as Dustin, also had a theory he enjoyed.
“That Dustin was Ted’s illegitimate child. Because I seem to be kind of more obsessed with his behavior than with Mike’s, and he’s always there and getting under my skin.”
He noted, “but we haven’t seen that materialize, either.”
Chrest thinks Ted gets “a bad rap” for being an unaware dad who ignores his family.
“He reminds me of my dad, and a lot of people say they remind him of their own father. He’s dressed in a tie and stuff at breakfast,” Chrest said. “I think he’s just like a lot of those dads that I’ve known that worked really hard” and at the end of each day, “they’re just flat out beat.”
But, perhaps in contrast to Ted, Chrest, who has daughter in eleventh grade and a son the same age as his fictional son, Wolfhard — said, “my favorite thing in life is being a dad.”
“Stranger Things” Season 5 will have 8 episodes, dropping on Netflix in three volumes, releasing on Nov. 26, Dec. 25, and Dec. 31.
