MegaCon 2017: ‘Stranger Things’ stars Caleb McGaughlin and Gaten Matarazzo discuss show, praises co-stars

As thousands gathered at this year’s MegaCon in Orlando, one of the popular panels was for Stranger Things, featuring stars Caleb McGaughlin and Gaten Matarazzo, who play Lucas and Dustin on the popular Netflix series.

Both of the young actors were asked about the cosplay with Caleb joking “I don’t see a lot of Lucas, it’s usually Dustin but its cool,” prompting Gaten to confess that “It hits me emotionally.”

Stranger Things has been a massive hit with fans and the first season presented a ton of challenges for both actors.

“The emotional change throughout the season was drastic for Lucas. He went from playing D&D in a basement to a lot of chasing and then Eleven left so it was rough on Lucas. It was difficult because Lucas was not portrayed for me before and he was a very emotional character so that was hard.”

Gaten added that “The hardest part probably is the inconsistency with the schedule. There is never a routine and we never know when we are going to sleep but you know…acting.”

The pair had a great chemistry with Caleb stating his favorite scenes are “Anything with this guy (Gaton). I enjoyed being thrown over a car, that was super cool. There was several shots but i did all my stunts.”

“I liked when I got a knife up against my hand, but that was a very action filled scene. I don’t run, so that was interesting,” Gaten countered.

Both confessed to owning their Funko of themselves, opened up about the switch from Broadway to TV before returning to creepy aspects of the show.

“It’s a creepy show, and I’m not going to say that I wasn’t scared, but they stage everything,” Gaten explained. “I do like that they play creepy music, which I love, like John Carpenter.”

Caleb talked about liking his “bike and my slingshot” on the show with Gaten cracking up the fans by praising “The fanny packs, which I still have…and the walkie talkies were cool.”

Both offered up praise for their co-stars: David Harbour and Winona Ryder.

“Mr.David and Miss.Winona are fantastic to work with and are also film/Broadway stars and it was great.It was good to not be pushed away because we were kids,they were welcoming and influential,” Caleb said.

Season 2 will give viewers even more reasons to root for the friends, as they will face “more and darker threats” while recovering from Season 1’s events, according to executive producer Shawn Levy.

“Trauma is a major theme and frankly the return to normalcy,” Levy said. “Is normal ever possible again in Hawkins [,Indiana]? In the Byers family? In the Wheeler family? … That’s a big question that looms over Season 2.”

Stranger Things season 2 is set to debut on Netflix on October 31, 2017.