Exclusive: Eddie Munson’s Fate In Stranger Things Revealed
WARNING! MAJOR SPOILERS ARE AHEAD FOR THE UPCOMING EPISODES OF STRANGER THINGS. IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO HAVE THE FATE OF RECENTLY INTRODUCED CHARACTERS SPOILED, PLEASE GO AND READ SOME OTHER FINE GIANT FREAKIN ROBOT ARTICLE.
Eddie Munson, the denim-clad Dungeon Master introduced in the first half of Stranger Thing’s fourth season, apparently has had his fate sealed. According to our trusted and proven sources, Eddie (played by British actor Joseph Quinn) will not survive the second half of this season of Stranger Things. While we do not yet know exactly how Eddie Munson will die when the hit Netflix series returns for some reportedly mega-sized episodes, but it is probably safe to speculate it will be very horrific or nobly self-sacrificing or some combination of the two.
It is also not terribly surprising that Eddie Munson will not make it through to a happy ending with Stranger Things. While the Netflix series is not exactly predictable in its plot twists, it has demonstrated a strong tendency to introduce intriguing new characters, only to see them be dramatically killed off so the core cast can survive. Granted, most of the core cast are children, so their continual rescue makes some sense.
Notably, Sean Astin’s character Bob Newby was introduced in the second season as the new boyfriend Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder), winning both her affections and that of audiences, before being killed by Demodogs after restoring power to Hawkins National Laboratory. While Eddie Munson is not as lovable a Stranger Things character, it sets a bad precedent.
Similarly, the introduction of Billy Hargrove (Dacre Montgomery) as a bad guy who nevertheless thrilled audiences with his awesome mullet served as emotional fuel for his eventual sacrifice saving his stepsister Max (Sadie Sink) from the Mind Flayer. Again, not a great prognosis for the survival of Eddie Munson in Stranger Things.
According to the Duffer Brothers, one of the main inspirations for Eddie Munson in Stranger Things was Damien Echols, one of the so-called West Memphis Three. The real-life Echols was a metalhead and D&D player who was accused (along with Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley) of the murder of three boys in Arkansas in 1993. Similar to Eddie’s plotline in Stranger Things, the West Memphis Three became the subject of a murder investigation due to their fondness for heavy metal and fantasy role-playing games, both of which were targetted by a hysterical “Satanic Panic” of the time period.
The real Damien Echols was eventually exonerated due to the discovery of DNA evidence and a new trial, but it seems unlikely that Eddie Munson of Stranger Things will actually manage to go to trial for Vecna’s murders. The second half of the fourth season of Stranger Things is due to be released on Netflix on July 1, with a concluding fifth season at an unscheduled future date. The final episodes of the breakout Netflix series are apparently going to be essentially movie-length installments, so we may still have quite a ways to go before we see the untimely end of Eddie Munson.
