Stranger Things: Every Main Character Ranked Worst To Best

Winona Ryder is obviously one of the defining actresses of Gen X cinema and Stranger Things proves that she hasn’t lost her touch one bit. While some critics felt that Joyce’s constant state of hysteria in season one started to grate after a while, it made perfect sense for a mother terrified of losing her son forever to act that way and Ryder played it incredibly.

Admittedly, much like her sons, Joyce hasn’t exactly seen seismic shifts in her character since the first season, but her storylines in season two and three were still compelling, even if season two’s once again centred around her being worried about Will. Her obsessive quest to find out why the town’s magnets were losing their magnetism in season three offered a genuinely compelling mystery and made an excellent detective duo out of her and Jim Hopper.

Still, it wouldn’t hurt to see her actually calm and content with her life for once.