Maya Hawke says Stranger Things character wasn’t meant to be gay

Maya Hawke has admitted her Stranger Things character was never meant to come out as gay, but did so after an “obvious” script change was made.

The 27-year-old, who plays Starcount Mall ice-cream parlour clerk Robin Buckley in the science-fiction series, revealed that, shock horror, her character was originally meant to be straight.

During the Netflix show’s third season, when Robin is introduced, she was originally supposed to fall in love with her co-worker Steve, played by Joe Keery.

However, she told the Wall Street Journal Magazine that as filming progressed it became increasingly obvious that she should be rewritten.

“Throughout filming, we started to feel like she and [Steve] shouldn’t get together, and that she’s gay,” Hawke said. “Even when I go back and watch earlier episodes, it just seems like the most obvious decision ever.”

The show’s creators Matt and Ross Duffer, as well as producer Shawn Levy, began having “a lot” of conversations about the character’s sexuality.

In the end, Hawke said, the decision was made for Robin to come out as gay.

“It wasn’t really until we were shooting episode four and five, I think, that we made the final decision,” she said.

Hawke told WSJ that it ended up being a “collaborative decision”, and one she was “really, really happy with”.

The rest is history. Robin eventually came out in episode seven of the series’ third season after Steve admits to her that he has a crush.

Responding, Robin turns to Steve, telling him that she had previously had a crush on Tammy Thompson (Julia Reilly) and was jealous of the way she looked at Steve. After a few moment, the ball drops and Steve realises what Robin is saying.

The change made Robin the first LGBTQ+ character in the show and had a profound impact on Robin’s character arc as she comes to terms with her sexuality.

In a 2022 interview, Hawke said she was incredibly pleased with the way Robin’s sexuality has been handled in the show, saying: “It’s this adventure story, just like everybody else, her queerness is just kind of an aspect of her personhood. That feels really special to me.”