How old is Eleven at the end of Stranger Things?

The kids of Stranger Things are growing up—and so are the actors who play them, because, well, that’s how the linear progression of time works. But because time marches on at a steady pace IRL no matter how much time passes in the fictional world of Hawkins, Indiana (or how long production is delayed for things like global pandemics), you may have started to really notice that the “kids” of Stranger Things are, for the most part, definitely no longer “kids” in real life.

For a little context, Stranger Things premiered in 2016 and the events of the first season begin in November 1983. By season 4 (the first half of which just dropped on Netflix for your bingeing pleasure), the show’s timeline has progressed to early 1986. So while a little more than two years have passed within the world of the show, six years have passed in the real world, which helps explain why the cast members are starting to look so noticeably older than their onscreen alter egos.

Here’s a look at just how big the age gaps between the Stranger Thing actors and the characters they play are.

Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven)

Age on the show: 14 or 15

Age IRL: 18

Millie was born on February 19, 2004, meaning she’s officially a legal adult in the real world. Eleven, on the other hand, was born in 1971 (according to the Stranger Things Wiki), making the character 14 or 15 during the events of season 4. FWIW, though, Eleven and Millie were both 12 in season 1.

Finn Wolfhard (Mike Wheeler)

Age on the show: 15

Age IRL: 19

Mike’s age is a little more specific, thanks to the graphic novel Stranger Things and Dungeons & Dragons, which gives his exact birthday as April 7, 1971. Finn, meanwhile, was born on December 23, 2002, making him a full four years older than his character.

Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin Henderson)

Age on the show: 14 or 15

Age IRL: 19

Like most of the kid characters, Dustin’s birthday is in 1971 (his is in May, apparently), meaning the character is 14 or 15 in the current season. IRL, Gaten has a September birthday, making him a few months older than Finn.

Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas Sinclair)

Age on the show: 14 or 15

Age IRL: 20

Caleb’s age gap with his character is about the same as the rest of the D&D crew, but if we had to award one of these guys a Most Visibly Grown title, it would be him.

Noah Schnapp (Will Byers)

Age on the show: 15 (his birthday is in March 1971)

Age IRL: 17

Noah is the bb of the kid cast IRL—and one of the few Stranger Things kids who is actually still a minor (he’ll turn 18 on October 3).

Sadie Sink (Max Mayfield)

Age on the show: 15

Age IRL: 20

Sadie turned 20 in April and made sure everyone knew she was a damn adult last fall when she turned in a wise-beyond-her-years performance in Taylor Swift’s All Too Well short film.

Natalia Dyer (Nancy Wheeler)

Age on the show: 18 or 19

Age IRL: 27

Nancy was born in 1967, making her 18 or 19 in season 4. In real life, Natalia is officially in her late 20s (but honestly still looks pretty baby-faced).

Charlie Heaton (Jonathan Byers)

Age on the show: 18 or 19

Age IRL: 28

Jonathan was born the same year as Nancy, but Charlie is about a year older than Natalia in real life. Unlike her, he is not so eternally baby-faced.

Joe Keery (Steve Harrington)

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.

Stranger Things 4 Volume 1 is come and gone, and my goodness what a terrific season it’s been so far. Volume 2, comprised of just two episodes, is right around the corner. We’ll see the conclusion of the fourth season on July 1st.

After that, we’ll have to wait a while to watch the fifth and final season of Netflix’s most popular show. Granted, it shouldn’t be as long as the wait between Stranger Things 3 and Stranger Things 4—hopefully we don’t have another global pandemic!—but it will still be a wait. And as we wait, the cast—comprised largely of teenagers and 20-somethings—gets older. (So do we, but let’s not think about that).

That’s why the show’s creators have noted that there will likely be a time-jump between Seasons 4 and 5.

That made me wonder: How old are these kids now? If it’s another couple years before we see Stranger Things 5, you can extrapolate just how old the actors will be when that comes out (though they’ll be a little younger when they film, of course). It’s also interesting to subtract six years from their ages and think about how young they were in the OG Stranger Things, though many of these characters were introduced later on.

After all, in the fiction the kids are in 7th grade in the first season and 9th grade in Season 4. That means that they’re in the third year of the fictional story, whereas six years have gone by since Season 1 came out (and longer since it began filming).

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In any case, I’m only including the “kids” in this list. For one thing, it just doesn’t matter how old Hopper (David Harbour) or Murray (Brett Gelman) are. And I hear it’s in poor taste to inquire about a woman’s age, though I have to say that Winona Ryder (Joyce) is more attractive and talented than ever now.

In any case, here are the ages of the cast compared to their characters in Stranger Things 4.

Finn Wolfhard (age 19) as Mike Wheeler (age 15 in Season 4)

Mike

Finn Wolfhard is just four years older than his character, but that gap is definitely more pronounced at this age. I’ve been to high school. I remember how young most freshman looked. Finn looks young for his age, as do many in the cast, but Mike looks quite a bit older than a 9th grader. Still, his gangly limbs and skinny frame help him look the part.

Millie Bobby Brown (age 18) as Eleven (age 15 in Season 4)

Eleven

Despite being three years older than Eleven, I think Millie Bobby Brown really does look about the right age in Stranger Things 4. Maybe it’s the hair? Or maybe it’s just Eleven herself and how she just seems younger due to her lack of social skills. Man, it really bugged me how badly they bullied her this season!

Gaten Matarazzo (age 19) as Dustin Henderson (age 15 in Season 4)

Dustin

Gaten Matarazzo could be 30 and he’d still have a baby face. Sure, he looks older in Season 4 but if you told me that kid was 15 I’d believe you. He’s 19 in real life, but that goofy, cherubic grin lights up his whole face. Forever young, Dustin.

Caleb McLaughlin (age 20) as Lucas Sinclair (age 15 in Season 4)

Lucas

Lucas started looking a lot more built up in Season 4 which makes sense. Caleb McLaughlin is 20, making him the eldest of the four boys. But he does such a good job acting like the new kid on the block that I could buy him as a tall freshman. In a couple of years, though, who knows. As these kids get stronger it’ll be harder to make them look like early high schoolers.

Noah Schnapp (age 17) as Will Byers (age 15 in Season 4)

Will

Noah Schnapp is the youngest of the four boys in real life but I still think Gaten looks the youngest. Of course, Will is so quiet and sweet that he always seems younger and that helps with the illusion that he’s in his first year of high school.

Sadie Sink (age 20) as Max Mayfield (age 15 in Season 4)

Max

Sadie Sink was the breakout star of Season 4 (so far). Episode 4, which made Max the central character, remains my favorite of the entire series. Sadie is interesting because she’s tiny and that makes her seem young, but she has older eyes. I don’t mean they’re lined or anything. There’s just an intensity to her visage that makes her look old while at the same time looking young. It’s hard to describe, but look at this picture of her above and tell me I’m wrong.

Joe Keery (age 30) as Steve Harrington (age 19 in Season 4)

Steve

Joe Keery is one of the older “kid” actors on the show. He’s supposed to be 18 going on 19 in Season 4, fresh out of high school and on to bigger and better things at the local video store. But Keery is 30 and even though he’s still pretty young-looking, it’s tough for me to buy him as a teen at this point. Six years ago, when Stranger Things 1 came out, I could buy a 24-year-old Keery as a high school senior. Now...oh well, I can suspend my disbelief I guess.

Natalia Dyer (age 27) as Nancy Wheeler (age 18 in Season 4)

Nancy

Natalia Dyer is 27 and she looks like a 20-something and I swear I can never remember if Nancy’s still supposed to be in high school in this show or if she graduated and is just back working at the school paper as part of the staff. See, this is why we need a time-jump!

Charlie Heaton (age 28) as Jonathan Byers (age 18 in Season 4)

Jonathan

Charlie Heaton is a year older than Dyer and like her, he looks like a 20-something, though he’s got one of those faces that looks young and old at the same time. That was true even in the first season. It’s his eyes, I think. They look tired and that gives him look a little more rugged and worn.

Maya Hawke (age 23) as Robin Buckley (age 18 or 19 in Season 4)

Robin

Maya Hawke is only 23 but she could swing either way if you ask me. Maybe it’s because she looks so much like her mom, Uma Thurman, or maybe it’s because I’m looking at this particular picture of her (above) but I swear she could pass as the 18/19 year-old Robin or a 30-year-old if she wanted.

Priah Ferguson (age 15) as Erica Sinclair (age 11 in Season 4)

Erica

They did their level best in Stranger Things 4 to pass off Priah Ferguson’s Erica as an 11-year-old and Ferguson herself is clearly a talented enough actress to pull it off, but that is one fierce—and tall—11-year-old! (And if you watch her play D&D with her cast-mates in real life you’ll see just how good a job she did making herself seem younger than she actually is).

Joseph Quinn (age 29) as Eddie Munson (age 19/20 in Season 4)

Eddie

Eddie Munson has been held back a couple times and, in Stranger Things 4, seems determined to finally graduate high school and get on with his life. I’m not sure that’s going to work out for him. But Joseph Quinn does a phenomenal job at playing the high school burnout. He’s like a character plucked directly out of one of the Brat Pack movies. He’s clearly older than 19 or 20 but it just doesn’t matter because Eddie is just that rad.

Eduardo Franco (age 27) as Argyle (age 17-18 in Season 4)

Argyle

Actually, Eddie and Argyle should get together and smoke a few bowls. I’m not sure if Argyle is into D&D but I kind of love the idea of an Eddie/Argyle team-up. (Actually, if they could bring back Billy I think it would be interesting to see how he and Eddie played off one another, too). In any case, Eduardo Franco is 27 and he definitely looks older than the 18-year-old in the show but he’s young at heart and that makes up for it. Also, I want an Americantendo so badly.

Mason Dye (age 27) as Jason Carver (age 17-18 in Season 4)

Jason

One of our new antagonists—though a surprisingly sympathetic one—in Stranger Things 4 is the popular, charismatic orator-jock Jason Carver played by 27-year-old Mason Dye. I think Mason passes pretty well as a high school senior, quite honestly. He has a baby face. The only thing I find unbelievable about his character is how damn charming he is in front of a crowd. I guess I just never met a high school senior who could orate with that level of skill, though I know they’re out there. Jason strikes me as the type who, in ten or fifteen years, is running for the GOP seat in his congressional district.

Elodie Grace Orkin (age 18) as Angela (age 17-18 in Season 4)

Angela

I figured since we were including antagonists in this list, we’d include the almost caricature-of-a-bully, Angela, in this list. Played by Elodie Grace Orkin, Angela has none of the complexities that Jason has. Jason is a bad dude, but he thinks he’s a good guy seeking out justice for the murder of his girlfriend. Angela is just a . . . well, we don’t use that kind of language here. She’s so over-the-top that you hardly feel bad for her when Eleven smashes her face in with a roller-skate. But Elodie Grace Orkin wins this contest: The actress is basically the exact same age as the character! In fact, she just celebrated her 18th birthday earlier this month.

Harry Creel / 001 / Vecna

Bonus: Vecna actor Jamie Campbell Bower is 33 years old and, as Harry Creel/001 in the facility his character is 32 so he’s pretty close to the correct age also. He’s a bit older as Upside Down Vecna, of course, which makes him the only actor in this list who plays a character older than they are in real life.

Billy

Bonus #2: Billy is, of course, dead in Stranger Things 4 but he shows up in a vision Max has induced by Vecna. If Billy were still alive he’d be around 19-years-old. Of course, actor Dacre Montgomery is 27, though he has an ageless quality to him. In some ways I think he looks younger in real life than his mulleted, mustachioed TV counterpart.

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