Outer Banks‘ Chase Stokes majorly flubbed his Stranger Things audition
Chase Stokes tried (and failed) to land the role of Steve Harrington before he was cast in his own Netflix show
Aux News Stranger Things
There’s just something special about a somewhat-douchey, mostly-lovable Netflix boy with a one-syllable name and that hairdo, isn’t there? Actor Chase Stokes certainly gets it, as he initially tried to play one of them (Stranger Things’ Steve Harrington) and actually does play another (teen treasure-hunter John B. on Outer Banks).
Stokes recently revealed that while he is clearly quite adept at knowing which roles play to his, er, considerable aesthetic strengths, the actual audition doesn’t always go as smoothly.
“I actually read for Steve Harrington and I forgot all the lines and absolutely effed up. I drove eight hours from Atlanta back to Orlando regretting every moment of my life on that!” he said, per Yahoo! Life.
While the part of Steve would eventually go to Joe Keery (towards whom Stokes harbors zero resentment, calling him “an absolute legend, who is so good as Steve Harrington”), the Duffer brothers clearly saw something in Stokes, who went on to appear as a character named Reed in a season 1 episode of the show. While the part was small, the actor still credits it as the kickstart to his career. “I’m just thankful for the Duffer brothers for giving me an opportunity to, like, do my job,” he said. “I mean if it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t be here.”
But while the Duffer brothers may have gotten him off the ground, it was a casting director named Lisa Fincannon that really gave him the kick he needed to become the floppy-haired Netflix boy he was always destined to be. In a recent New York Times interview, Stokes revealed that he actually turned down multiple audition offers for Outer Banks, initially seeing it as a Goonies remake and “not wanting to besmirch a classic.”
Facing an eviction notice and dwindling funds, however, he began to reconsider. “I got a call from Lisa Fincannon, a wonderful casting director, and she said, ‘You need to read for this,’” he said. He went on to describe a call he received from his agent a few days later:
“You’re getting on a plane tonight. Here’s 14 pages of dialogue. Here’s the first four episodes. You’re going to be on the very last row of a plane in the middle seat on a red eye, and you’re going to land in Charleston. The audition is right when you get off the plane.” And I did it, and the rest is history.
Outer Banks season 3 is now streaming on Netflix.
12 Comments
I thought the stranger things were all kids. This guy looks a bit old to be playing a stranger thing or a teen treasure hunter.
They literally explain the age-approriate part he was going for in the article…
And, like most of the commentariat, I literally scan these things while I’m literally goofing off at work and don’t literally catch every nuance about people in shows I don’t literally watch.Honest to goodness, what kind of boner do you people get from these replies?
It’s so weird that you comment on every single article and openly admit you scan them because you’re at work. Writing a dumb comment takes time out of your day too. Literally.
Would you be surprised to hear that you are not the first person to apply the adjective “weird” to me?
dont give it the attention it craves
You use literally a lot for someone who didn’t bother to read the article. If you’re asking why I replied to you, it’s because I really dislike it when people form an opinion without reading past the headline. I know a lot of people do it, that doesn’t make it a good thing. And the excuse of not having time to read the article or whatever you mean to say is bull, if you have time to comment regularly, you have time to read short articles and make informed comments.Or don’t and make jokes that make no sense given the context of the actual article.
There is nothing more exhilarating than pointing out the shortcomings of others, is there?
You’re still reading the articles?
that commenter has nothing of value to offer just one insipid comment after another. its parents really did us all a disservice by not flushing it.
Stokes and Keery are both 30. The show first aired in 2016 (started filming in 2015) so figure casting probably started sometime in 2014. They both would have been 21 to 22 years old which in Hollywood years makes them perfect to play a junior in high school.
I hope it feels good.