LotR Star Almost Begged Duffers to Audition Him For Stranger Things

Stranger Things is a huge hit on Netflix. The sci-fi horror series, which featured a lot of underage actors when it premiered in 2016, changed the way fans view the genre.

And it's not unusual for a lot of different actors to want to be a part of such a successful show.

However, the series creators, the Duffer Brothers, didn't even expect their show to be such an inspiration for one particular person.

It appears that famous actor Sean Astin was a part of Stranger Things fandom, so he decided that he wanted to become a part of the show no matter what.

And the first thing on his to-do list was to simply send his audition tape to the show's creators.

The thing is, big stars usually get the part offered to them, or they get an audition, but they almost never send their tape to the producers themselves. Well, this wasn't the case with a Stranger Things fan as huge as Sean Austin.

Another interesting fact is that Astin's audition was for Murray Bauman's role, the weird and confusing journalist who was hired to find out the reasons for Barb's disappearance.

But for that role, he got a huge "no" for an answer. Which was actually good, because the Duffer Brothers got something even better to offer the actor.

"I got a call right away saying they thought it was fantastic, but they actually think you're more right for another character, Bob. I went back the next day and auditioned again for 10 minutes, and then I got a call saying they loved me for it," Sean said in the interview with Variety.

So that's how Stranger Things got its central character in season 2. Sean Astin ended up playing Bob Newby.

He was Joyce Byers' boyfriend, and he also became an essential part of solving the mystery of the Mind Flayer.

Bob the superhero became a character really loved by fans in no time, and tragically sacrificed himself at the season's finale, giving the rest of the gang the chance to escape and save Will Byers.