Why The Cast Of Stranger Things 3 Looks So Familiar

Welcome back to Hawkins, Stranger Things fans! The third season of Netflix's nostalgic supernatural suspense series brought Eleven and her merry band of misfit friends together again to enjoy the summer sun, some time at the Starcourt Mall, and, of course, another brush with the Upside-Down as the Mind Flayer continued to loom large over the small town. The kiddos might be growing up very quickly, but their problems have always been bigger than them, and Season 3 was no exception.

In addition to welcoming back most of the familiar faces of the series — R.I.P. Barb and Bob — the new season introduced a few newcomers, from an intriguing new lifeguard to an ambitious politician. Even though they're fresh on the scene, though, the actors portraying these characters might seem pretty familiar to fans. Here's a look at where you might've seen the stars of Stranger Things 3 before.

Things are just heating up for Maya Hawke's career as she joined the fold for Stranger Things in the role of the ice cream-slinging Robin, but the actress has been a part of show business her entire life. She is the first child of Hollywood exes Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman, and was born shortly after the two met on the set of 1997's Gattaca. Hawke was raised away from the limelight until she reached adulthood, but even at a young age she still dove right into local theatrical productions and is now following in her parents' footsteps by pursuing a career as an actress.

Hawke made her screen debut in the PBS TV mini-series adaptation of Little Women as Jo March, the spitfire daughter who refuses to conform to certain gender expectations of her era. Soon after, she appeared in the indie thriller Ladyworld. Her post-Stranger Things resume is already set to make her even more recognizable. The actress appears in Quentin Tarantino's new film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and will also star alongside some heavy-hitters in Marc Meyers' latest drama Human Capital and Gia Coppola's Mainstream.

Before becoming the new lifeguard Heather in Stranger Things 3, Francesca Reale had already made a name for herself on another Netflix original series called Haters Back Off! She starred in that quirky comedy series as Emily, the very normal sister of the very abnormal Miranda Sings. Apart from that series and a lone guest role in a 2016 episode of Blue Bloods, though, Reale is still very much an actress on the rise.

Like many up-and-comers, she has been steadily establishing a reel with appearances in short films, including "The Furies of War," "Goodbye Charm City," and "Cabin." Reale could also be seen sharing the screen with Stranger Things co-star Natalia Dyer in the 2019 teen drama Yes, God, Yes. Season 3 of Stranger Things featured Heather heavily, particularly her "complicated" relationship with Dacre Montgomery's Billy.

Though she had precious little screen time in Stranger Things 2, Priah Ferguson still made quite an impression as young Erica Sinclair, the sassy sister of Caleb McLaughlin's character Lucas — so much so that the Duffer Brothers went back and added in some more scenes for her to steal throughout her initial season. She was eventually promoted to recurring guest star in Stranger Things 3 so the character could be expanded beyond the syrup-loving, insult-slinging detractor of her big brother.

Outside of the series, Ferguson's face has also graced the screen in several other television series, including Atlanta, Mercy Street, and Daytime Divas. She also appeared in Ike Barinholtz's directorial debut, The Oath, in 2018. Like many of the original child stars of Stranger Things, though, the series still looms large as the most impressive credit on her resume. If she has the same kind of luck as her co-stars, the role will be a great place to launch her nascent career in the limelight, and with the comedic timing she's shown in both of her seasons on Stranger Things, there's no doubt she is already well on her way to bigger things.

Poor Mrs. Wheeler finally got out of the house a bit more in Stranger Things 3 to enjoy the summer sunshine — and, well, other parts of the view — at the local pool. Actress Cara Buono certainly welcomed the opportunity to expand the character's horizons beyond mothering her kids and trying to sneak in a few bathtime escapes here and there, even if her character didn't end up enjoying it all that much.

Before joining the cast of Stranger Things, Buono had already established an extremely impressive small screen resume, enjoying recurring roles as Kelli Moltisanti in HBO's The Sopranos, Sheriff Anna Turner in the small screen adaptation of Stephen King's The Dead Zone, the conflicted data consultant Faye Miller in Mad Men, and as Martine Rousseau in Person of Interest, to name a few. Meanwhile, her film career is nothing to shake a stick at, either; she can be seen in movies like Gladiator, Hulk, Matt Reeves' Let the Right One In remake, and more recently, the film adaptation of John Green's Paper Towns.

Try as they might with their hip haircuts (Steve) and Ghostbusters Halloween costumes (the core four tweens), the Stranger Things character who looks the most "1980s" is Mr. Scott Clarke, Hawkins Middle School's long-serving science teacher and audio-visual club advisor. He rocks that sweater vest-and-bushy mustache combo so well it seems like Stranger Things producers used a time machine to grab a real early '80s schoolteacher. He's also a good dude, the teacher everyone wants, trusting Dustin, Mike, Lucas, and Will and helping them get the gear they need for their outlandish projects — and in the third season, helping Joyce Byers explore the truth behind her demagnetized magnets.

Veteran character actor Randy Havens has played Mr. Clarke since the beginning of Stranger Things. While he's popped up for bit roles in numerous TV shows, he's probably most recognizable to Stranger Things viewers from his recurring role as pawn shop worker Patrick McKenna on Sleepy Hollow, or his appearance as Dr. Tim Mancini in 2019's Godzilla: King of the Monsters. His most prominent role outside of Stranger Things came on another '80s-set show. He portrayed Cardiff Electric engineer Stan on nine episodes of AMC's computer industry drama Halt and Catch Fire.

Dr. Alexei is actually a sweet and innocent guy, a Russian transplant who enjoys the spoils of Indiana, like the Woody Woodpecker doll he wins at a Fun Fair, and cherry-flavored Slurpees. Of course, he's only in the U.S. because the Soviets tasked him with getting the Key, a world-connecting portal in Hawkins, up and operational. He speaks only Russian, and he relies on Murray Bauman to translate for him during his on-the-lam adventures with Sheriff Hopper and Joyce Byers.

Dr. Alexei (who probably won't return for the fourth season of Stranger Things) was portrayed by Alec Utgoff. He's not Russian in real life — he's Ukrainian. But as Russians are frequently the villains in movies and on television, Utgoff has portrayed a lot of Russians, and usually bad guys to boot. His first role was as a Russian hacker on the British spy series Spooks, followed up by an appearance in the Johnny Depp movie The Tourist as a Russian gangster. Utgoff later portrayed a Russian spy in Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, and a Russian criminal henchman in Mortdecai. Utgoff's most visible role: as a student named Alexi trying to survive a massive earthquake in San Andreas.