The Hellfire Club won’t be meeting again.
Joseph Quinn, who played the fan favorite metal loving Eddie Munson in “Stranger Things” Season 4, won’t be back for the fifth and final season, the creators confirmed.
After initially playing coy about it in some early interviews, Matt Duffer told Empire, “I love that Joe Quinn is toying with people! But no, he’s dead.”
He added, “Joe is so busy anyway, that everyone should know he’s not coming back. He’s shot like five movies since! When the hell has he got time to come and shoot ‘Stranger Things’? No, sadly, RIP. He’s fully under that ground.”
In June 2024, Quinn teased about a possible comeback. “I might have that feeling too. Or maybe I don’t. Who knows? Maybe I do…” Quinn told Entertainment Tonight at the time. “I love those guys. I’d love to come and say hello. I’m sure they’re working very hard to land the plane. It’s a long time they’ve been working on that so I’m really delighted they’re getting toward the end and they’re having a nice time. I’m sure they’re gonna deliver it in a pretty epic finale.”
Eddie died in Season 4, but his return was plausible, since death isn’t always the end in “Stranger Things.” After all, David Harbour’s sheriff, Hopper, supposedly died at the end of Season 3, but he was later revealed to be alive.
Quinn, 31, has seen his star rise since he played the ill-fated Hellfire Club leader in “Stranger Things.” He’s since appeared in major franchises such as the “Fantastic Four” reboot with Pedro Pascal, the “Gladiator” sequel “Gladiator II”, and he’s set to star in the buzzy Beatles biopic as George Harrison, opposite Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney, Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr, and Harris Dickinson as John Lennon.
Directed by Sam Mendes, there will be four movies for each Beatle, expected simultaneously in April 2028.
“I’m not chasing any particular echelon of stardom,” Quinn told L’Officiel USA in a 2024 interview.
“It’s very much about the opportunities that interest me, and I suppose I’m getting used to the fact that I have a little more choice now, which is such a luxury.”
Quinn is in a long line of ill-fated one-season “Stranger Things” characters that also includes “Lord of the Rings” star Sean Astin and Dacre Montgomery.
Eddie loved metal music and briefly played an epic guitar solo to aid the gang in Hawkins, Indiana, in their battle against the sinister Upside Down, before he was killed.
The hit Netflix show is finally ending after five seasons and nearly a decade, as Season 1 first premiered in 2016.
In a recent Variety feature, the Duffer brothers said that they studied series finales of other shows that they felt “really worked,” including “Six Feet Under,” “Friday Night Lights” and “The Sopranos.”
Matt Duffer said about the “Stranger Things” series finale, “We knew roughly what the end scene was for years — it wasn’t something we had to strain to come up with.”
“There were elements of it that were discussed for weeks, but the core idea of the ending, we had for a really long time,” he added. “Anyway, we’re really happy with the way it ended. It’s nerve-racking to put it out. I’m sure people will have opinions!”
“Stranger Things” Season 5 will have 8 episodes, dropping on Netflix in three volumes, releasing on Nov. 26, Dec. 25, and Dec. 31.
