‘Stranger Things’ Creators Cast Their High School Teacher in Season 5 Role

Matt and Ross Duffer added a very special and personal touch to Stranger Things 5.

The Stranger Things creators actually cast their high school drama teacher for a role in Part 1 of the show’s final season.

Ross shared on Instagram that schoolteacher Miss Harris is played by Hope Hynes Love, his and Matt’s high school drama teacher. “High school was rough for me and my brother,” Ross explained. “But Hope saw something in us we didn’t see in ourselves — and she helped give us the confidence to not only survive those four years, but to move to LA and chase our dreams. Shoutout to all the teachers out there making a difference. And please… let’s prioritize the arts in schools.”

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Love told TODAY.com she “was delighted to be asked!” She revealed that she’s kept in touch with the Duffer Brothers since they were freshmen in high school and always sent them a note after each season of Stranger Things ended to tell them all the things that “delighted” her. In 2022, after Season 4 aired, the Duffers told her they were hoping she might have played a small role that season, but they had to cut the part.

“I showed it to my husband. I said, ‘How lovely are these boys to lie to me like this and make me feel good, right?’” Love recalled, laughing at the memory. Fast forward to December 2024, when Love received a “missive” from the brothers, evidently doubling down on their “lie.”

“They’re like, ‘Hey, remember that thing we talked about? We think we can do it now. Are you available? Could you find the time? It’ll probably be summer. We hope you could make it work,’” Love said. “And I was like, ‘Make it work? I think I’ll make it work!’”

Love is in her 30^th year of teaching and met Matt and Ross Duffer when they were freshmen at C.E. Jordan High School in Durham, North Carolina. Even though they “weren’t musical kids,” Love shared how the brothers “considered themselves artists… who were working on a craft that would serve them now and beyond.”

Love created roles for them as “mimes and sidekicks to the Troubadour” in the school’s production of Once Upon a Mattress. “The reason they were cast often is because they were artists I wanted to spend time with and work with,” she said. “They spent a lot of time filming a lot of the projects that we were completing, and that was a way for them to stay involved and work on the craft that really interests them.”

Fans can see Hope Hynes Love as Miss Harris now in Part 1 of Stranger Things 5 now on Netflix. Part 2 releases on Christmas Day on Netflix, while the series finale drops on New Year’s Eve on Netflix and in theaters.