Netflix casts 7 young actors in 'Stranger Things' supernatural drama from Duffer brothers

By Variety

Netflix has added seven young thesps to "Stranger Things" alongside Winona Ryder and David Harbour in the drama series starring written and directed by Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer ("Wayward Pines," "Hidden").

The eight-episode hourlong show will premiere exclusively across all Netflix territories in 2016. The series was originally titled "Montauk" and set on New York's Long Island, but the story now takes place in Indiana, where a young boy vanishes into thin air amid an unfolding mystery involving top-secret experiments, terrifying supernatural forces — and a very strange little girl.

Lead kid actor is Finn Wolfhard (pictured above), who co-stars in the series as Mike, a bullied 12-year-old who becomes an unlikely hero in the quest to save his best friend. Wolfhard guest-starred in "The 100" and appeared in indie films "Aftermath" and "The Resurrection."

Ryder will portray Joyce, the working-class single mom whose son disappears, and Harbour will play the town's chief of police.

Other additions to the "Stranger Things" cast: Millie Brown (BBC's "Intruders"), who portrays the girl with strange abilities Mike meets in the woods; Gaten Matarazzo ("Les Misérables" on Broadway); Caleb McLaughlin (who portrayed Young Simba in "The Lion King" on Broadway); Noah Schnapp (to appear in Steven Spielberg's "Bridge of Spies" and as the voice of Charlie Brown in "The Peanuts Movie"); Natalia Dyer ("I Believe in Unicorns"); and Charlie Heaton (appearing opposite Naomi Watts in EuropaCorp's dramatic thriller "Shut In," directed by Farren Blackburn).

The Duffer Brothers are writing, directing and serving as co-showrunners on the series, and will exec produce along with co-showrunner Karl Gajdusek ("Oblivion," "Last Resort") and Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen via their 21 Laps entertainment banner ("The Spectacular Now," "Night at the Museum," "Real Steel," "Date Night").

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