Top Ten Stranger Things Season 3 Characters

Turn around...look at what you see...

Home stretch guys! We are fast approaching the release of Stranger Things 5. One more week of coverage before I get to watch this final season. I cannot believe it. Anyways, season three of Stranger Things probably has some of the weakest character work in the show, but they've still got some fun new additions and some great arcs. The summer vibes and the fast aging of our characters makes for a strange combination, but it really does benefit some of these heroes. Here are my ten favorite characters from Stranger Things 3.

10. Erica Sinclair

Lucas's sassy sister is one of the best comedic parts of the show

Erica first appeared in season two as a funny, occasional cameo. She gets upgraded to a fully supporting role, and she is so much fun. When she's initially brought into the main story, I found her to be kind of annoying, but her rapport with Dustin and her sassiness make her this hilarious, fun character that brings a different energy to the show. Is she my favorite Stranger Things character? No. But does she get a really entertaining role in season three? Yes.

9. Murray Bauman

The strange conspiracy theorist returns in an expanded role

Speaking of comedic characters, Murray returns in this season. He's just as creepy yet much more endearing, which adds a nice heart to his character. His relationship with Alexei is what gives him a little bit of a splash in season three. In the midst of Joyce and Hopper trying to investigate the grand Russian conspiracy with Alexei at the center, Murray forms a fun bond with Alexei that only he can make because of his ability to speak the language. Although initially antagonistic, the two of them have a really entertaining dynamic that makes Alexei's death all the more crushing.

8. Joyce Byers

Joyce in a non-frantic state is a welcome change

Stranger Things is unforgiving in the characters that it puts through the ringer. Joyce Byers has been through the frickin' ringer. In the first season, her son was kidnapped. In the second season, her son was possessed by a shadow monster from the alternate dimension that he was kidnapped in. That's a lot for anyone to go through, so Joyce is understandably frantic throughout the majority of the first two seasons. Season three sees her in a much happier, more fun place. She isn't terrified and anxious about Will's safety. She still has her motherly instinct and the fiery strength that appears when she needs it, but there's a more relaxed energy that allows Winona Ryder to have some fun with the role. We also get to actually see her friendship with Hopper, which we haven't fully explored despite getting hints at it in the first two seasons. Maybe she gets put on the back-burner a little bit this go around, but anytime she's on screen, she's tons of fun.

7. Jim Hopper

He's still Hopper, but this is his worst season yet

It's hard not to put Hop on any of these lists, because he's my favorite character in the show and one of my favorite fictional characters of all time. He still has some of his best moments in season three. His speech that he writes to Eleven and is read after his "death" is probably the most emotional moment on the show up to this point. The way that he forces Larry Kline into submission and aims to protect Hawkins from the Russians is great. However...he's a bit too shouty and a bit too angry this season. At times, it feels like he becomes a little bit of a parody of himself. They really go for this Magnum P.I. vibe that doesn't fully fit the character we've grown to know and love over the past two seasons. That said, he's still the best character on the show and still gets plenty of fantastic moments that remind us why we all love him.

6. Alexei

The lovable Russian scientist is one of the season's most tragic characters

Alexei is introduced in the first scene of season three, and you immediately assume him to be the evil Russian scientist. When he gets kidnapped by Hopper and Joyce, you realize that that is not the case. He's got this very sweet, fun personality that heavily juxtaposes the role you expect him to play in this season. He has a love for the simple things in life, like slurpees and Woody Woodpecker, so you get really invested in him as this lovable Russian. Of course, as soon as you start to love him, he gets shot in the chest by Grigori. Stranger Things loves to introduce great new characters and then proceed to tear your heart out by killing them. Alexei is this season's victim!

5. Billy Hargrove

Max's psychopathic brother is given a tragic story that makes him much more complex

I know some people aren't crazy about Billy's arc in this season, and I don't really understand that. Stranger Things is a show about processing trauma, and everything in the series comments on that as its primary theme. Billy has unprocessed trauma; he has been abused by his jerk dad his whole life and has become an angry, abusive man himself. The Mind Flayer (and by extension, Vecna) uses this and exploits his trauma to make him a vessel for all the Upside Down havoc wreaked in season three. I find the exploration of his backstory and his trauma to be very powerful. You can see that he does not want to comply with the Mind Flayer throughout the season, but he also seems just as helpless as he is during the rest of his life. Dacre Montgomery gives an absolute powerhouse of a performance here. His ability to act incredibly scary while also looking incredibly scared is just so impressive. Despite him being a jerk for the entire time we knew him, his final sacrifice hits harder because of what we've seen him go through and how broken we truly understand him to be.

4. Dustin Henderson

The only non-angsty member of the party elevates himself above his friends

Dustin is pretty universally recognized as the best member of the original four, and season three just proves that. While Lucas, Will, and especially frickin' Mike are incredibly angsty and annoying this season, Dustin maintains the child-like innocence with his hilarious nerdiness perfectly. They continue the bromance with Steve, and it is just so fun to watch. Gaten Matarazzo's chemistry with Joe Keery is just unmatched. Dustin doesn't have some huge arc or incredible transformation in this season, but he's just so much fun to watch on screen. I feel like they really perfected the balance between the cute, nerdy kid that he was in the first two seasons and the awkward teen that he is turning into. He doesn't lose any of his lovability or charm. But instead of it always feeling like a cute nerd, he feels like an awkward teenage nerd, albeit with a strange charisma that is absolutely magnetic.

3. Steve Harrington

Steve will always have a spot on these lists

It's really hard to top season two Steve, but season three comes pretty darn close. We get to see more of this incredible transformation by watching him learn that his life is not all about being a jock who needs to have a girlfriend. We see him struggling with his love life in the beginning of the season, and the writers decide to explore that aspect of his personality through introducing Robin. It seems like Steve is attracting the right kind of girl by being a better, more caring, more selfless person, and all of that is subverted when Robin comes out as gay. Instead of reacting like the Steve Harrington of old, he completely accepts both her rejection of him and her identity. It just shows the incredible growth that we've seen throughout every season of Stranger Things, and I absolutely love it.

2. Robin Buckley

The dry, sarcastic ice cream scooper is one of the most iconic additions from the later seasons

Of the characters introduced after season one, Robin is my second favorite. She is just so much fun. As I've said countless times, the Duffers are so good at setting up classic tropes of 80s movies and then subverting them and giving us something better and more memorable. Robin is set up as the unlikely yet perfect girlfriend for Steve. She's a nerdier type, but you can see that Steve really likes her. They take that in a different direction, however, by making you realize that she is her own character and not just a plot device for Steve's arc. By having her reveal that she is gay, it subverts everything you expect and lets you interpret her relationship with Steve as one of a totally platonic love. That in and of itself is so beautiful. But beyond that, Robin is just so funny. Her witty, sarcastic humor paired with Dustin, Steve, and Erica just makes for some of the most fun banter in the show. It is difficult to throw a new, bold ingredient into a working formula, but in this case, Robin improves that already great formula.

1. Eleven

Seeing Eleven transform from "normal" teen back to the El we know was a fun arc

This may be a spoiler for my season four ranking, but it's weird that this is the only ranking where El takes the top spot. She starts off this season with the same angst as so many of the other characters, but she quickly resumes being a badass after she finds out that Billy is possessed by the Mind Flayer. Season one does a great job of introducing her. Season two does a great job of showing her discovering what having a true family is like. And season three allows her to create her own identity. We see her learn from Mike and Hopper and Max before discovering her own agency and understanding how to save the people she loves. This weirdly feels like the first season where she's her own person, and for that, she is my favorite character in the season. I love that she tries to be a normal teenager with Max and Mike before remembering that she is anything but normal and embracing that. She's one of TV's most iconic characters for a reason. And this is one of her best seasons.