Stranger Things Season 2 Review: 9 Ups And 3 Downs

8. The New Additions

Stranger Things isn't just resting on its original cast - even though that would've been very easy - and instead brings in a number of new additions, some of whom are even direct homages to the movies that inspired the show.

Two of the very best fit that brief, with The Goonies' Sean Astin and Aliens' Paul Reiser coming onboard. Astin plays Bob, a former classmate of Joyce and Hopper's who was a nerd at school and remains one today, but is also Joyce's new love interest, while Reiser plays the new lead scientist at Hawkins Lab.

They fit in seamlessly, drawing on their previous roles and becoming totally worthy of the time invested in them. Astin, in particular, is as likeable as he is in his most well-known roles as Mikey and Samwise, while Reiser has the sketchy doctor vibe down to a tee. Brett Gelman is also well cast as a former journalist turned jittery conspiracy theorist investigating the goings-on in Hawkins.

There are newcomers among the younger cast too, in the form of step-siblings Billy (Dacre Montgomery) and Max (Sadie Sink), who similarly slot into the show as if they'd been there all along. Billy is your typical 80s jock bully type, going one level up from the worst sides of Steve in Season 1, but Max is the really interesting one of the duo. Another outsider - who just so happens to excel at arcade games - she draws the attention of the other stranger kids, and being slightly rough-around-the-edges makes her a great foil for Lucas and Dustin.