Winona Ryder made her comeback in Stranger Things and we loved every second of it. But if you stop and really look back on the first season, most of her scenes were exclusively with strings of lights and phones. For those who forgot, Joyce Byers, the character that Winona plays, is looking for her son Will. In the beginning of the show, he is taken by a creature (the Demogorgon) and everyone thinks that he is dead.
We love Winona, but she is underused here
We eventually learn throughout the show that he is in the Upside Down and the way he communicates with his mother Joyce is through lights. It’s honestly a cool system where she has the alphabet set up on her wall and Will spells out what he wants to say to her. The problem? Winona is usually talking to the lights and not another scene partner.
Now, don’t get me wrong, she has moments with Hopper (David Harbour) and her other son, Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) but they’re honestly few and far between. Who does she spend most of her time with? Lights. But now that Will Byers is back in Hawkins, what does that mean for Winona and her trusty lights?
My hope for season 2 is that we actually get more of her interacting with those people in Hawkins. While season 1 proved to us that Winona still has the acting chops, I’m personally ready for her to move on and get to explore Hawkins a bit more. She was pretty much stuck in her house trying to talk to Will all of season 1 so it’ll be nice to her explore more. Especially if it is with Hopper (a relationship between them would be super fun!).
Fingers crossed for season 2
Overall, I think maybe we’ll get a little bit more of Winona and the lights. Why? Well, it has become such an iconic part of the show that I don’t think it’ll necessarily vanish. Many Halloween and cosplays rely on those lights so I think there will be, at least, a bit of ode to them.
But we’ll just have to wait and see on Friday the 27th when season 2 of Stranger Things comes out on Netflix. And I know I’m excited.
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