Netflix has reportedly announced the casting of Lord of the Rings alum Sean Astin in season two of Stranger Things. The hit show has also cast two other actors named Paul Reiser and Linnea Berthelsen.
Astin is set to portray Bob Newby, a kind-hearted geek who went to high school with Joyce Byers and Sheriff Hopper. Bob in the storyline is now the manager at the Hawkins RadioShack.
Sean Astin is known for acting in bona fide eighties and nineties films like Rudy and The Goonies. The Stranger Things crew reportedly felt that Astin’s Lord of the Rings stardom fit in well with their dark supernaturally themed show.
Paul Reiser is set to play Dr. Ownes, a Department of Energy employee. The character is tasked with containing the events that happened during the previous year. The first season’s events started when a murderous being from another dimension came into Hawkins and kidnapped Will Byers.
Reiser’s other active role is on Amazon’s Red Oaks comedy series. Red Oaks also carries an eighties theme within the series narrative. The Amazon series follows a coming of age story about a college student enjoying his last hurrah before summer ends and adulthood begins.
Linnea Berthelsen, a Danish newcomer, is set to play Roman on the second season. Roman is supposed to be an emotionally damaged young woman who suffered a big loss during childhood. Berthelsen’s character is reportedly connected to all the events that happened at the Department of Energy lab during the show’s first season, even though she isn’t a Hawkins resident.
Sean Astin has previously been seen on FX’s 2014 series The Strain. During The Strain’s first season, Astin was cast as a series regular. Although Astin became a guest star on the show’s second season.
The first season of Stranger Things is currently available on Netflix’s streaming service site. The show’s second season is reportedly still in its production phase. Stranger Things second season is expected to premiere in 2017.
