Stranger Things returns this week, finally giving fans the chance to catch up with those adorable kids from Hawkins, Indiana, even though they’re now clearly straight-up adults. Judging from the trailers, the fifth and final season of the hit Netflix series will have a distinct, Steve Buscemi “How do you do, fellow kids?” vibe.
Obviously the show has been heavily (and we mean heavily) influenced by a laundry list of ‘80s pop-culture touchstones, from The Goonies to Firestarter to E.T. to A Nightmare on Elm Street to Aliens. But, oddly, Stranger Things also owes a debt to this guy:
Yup, Chevy Chase is a part of the intellectual property Stranger Things stew. Back in 2018, several months before season three premiered, star David Harbour told Variety that Fletch, the 1985 comedy starring Chevy Chase, was a primary source of inspiration for the show’s creators, Matt and Ross Duffer.
“The Duffers are so specific each year with the movies,” Harbour explained. “And Fletch is one movie we get to play around and have some fun with this season, which you wouldn’t expect from Stranger Things, and you wouldn’t expect from the Spielberg universe, and you certainly wouldn’t expect from a darker season.’”
When the season finally hit streaming, it became clear what he was talking about. Hopper did have a distinctly Fletch-like storyline, going rogue to investigate a mystery in casual wear all while deadpanning quips and bullshitting rich doofuses.
Although the show sadly didn’t include any scenes in which Hopper sends bills for luxury meals to the Underhills.
The show gave Fletch an even more direct shout out, including it as one of the films advertised on the marquee at Starcourt Mall’s multiplex, along with Cocoon and Back to the Future.
But while Stranger Things hasn’t shied away from stunt casting some of the stars of movies they’ve paid homage to – like The Goonies’ Sean Astin and Aliens’ Paul Reiser – seemingly nobody involved with the show wanted to bring Chase’s Demogorgon-like energy onto the set.
