In season 3 of Stranger Things, both the characters and the actors are another year older as they navigate the challenges of growing up and grapple with the unknown forces of the Upside-Down. A full year passed between the first season (November 1983) and second season (November 1984), and the third season takes place in the summer of 1985, around nine months after the events of the second season.
But while only nine months have passed for the characters of Hawkins, it's been over a year between the release of the second and third seasons. The longer that Stranger Things goes on, the greater the age difference between the characters and the actors who play them. As is common in Hollywood, most of the actors were already older than the characters that they portray, and this difference has become more pronounced in season 3. Only one of the actors, Noah Schnapp (who plays Will Byers) is currently the same age as the character he portrays. Because the actors' ages vary more than their characters, the actors' ages have been organized from youngest to oldest.
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Related: What Time Stranger Things Season 3 Releases On Netflix
Since the new season takes place during the summer before they start high school, the younger group of kids ‒ Mike, Will, Dustin, Lucas, Max, and Eleven ‒ should be around 13 or 14 years old, depending on when their birthdays are. This means that Nancy and Jonathan should be around 17 or 18, while Steve and Billy, who are both slightly older, are probably 18 or 19. As the middle schoolers transition to high school and the high schoolers transition into college and adulthood, the Stranger Things kids are growing up before our eyes.
Age on the show: 19 or 20
Age IRL: 30 (!!!)
The Stranger Things “kid” who wins the Furthest From Being an Actual Child award is Joe Keery, who turned 30 in April and is currently playing Steve, who is a full decade younger than he is IRL. At least Steve is supposed to be a little older than the other teen characters?
Maya Hawke (Robin Buckley)
Age on the show: 17 or 18
Age IRL: 23
Maya is actually significantly closer to her character’s age than most of the older Hawkins teens, so at least there’s that.
Priah Ferguson (Erica Sinclair)
Age on the show: 11
Age IRL: 15
Priah and the Stranger Things costume and makeup teams deserve all the awards for making the obvious teenager above even remotely pass for an elementary school student.