Steve and Billy were the same character in the original Stranger Things script

5 July 2022, 13:01

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By Sam Prance

The Duffer brothers revealed the Stranger Things news in a MasterClass where they created a fake Dustin and Steve spinoff.

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Stranger Things creators the Duffer brothers have revealed that Steve and Billy were originally written as the same character.

Ever since Stranger Things debuted in 2016, Steve (Joe Keery) and, from season 2 onwards, Billy (Dacre Montgomery) have both played vital roles in the Netflix series. Steve has gone from being an arrogant jock to one of the show's most loveable characters, and Billy went from being one of the show's antagonists to literally sacrificing himself to save Eleven and Hawkins.

However, the Duffer brothers have now let slip that Steve and Billy weren't even separate characters in the original script.

Steve and Billy were originally the same character in Stranger Things. Picture: Netflix

Last week (Jun 30), the Duffer brothers released a MasterClass in TV writing and, in doing so, let slip a few wild details about how the show changed from the initial script. According to Vulture, they revealed that, "Dustin was initially described as just a "fat friend" and, perhaps most controversially, Steve and Billy were meant to be the same character before season 2.

According to BuzzFeed, Ross Duffer also previously said: "Introducing Billy was one of our first ideas for Season 2. Stephen King always has evil, but very human, characters in his work. Originally, that was going to be Steve, and then we fell in love with Joe Keery and we took his energy and spun it in a different direction. But we still wanted that human villain."

In other words, it sounds like Steve would have taken on Billy's villain role in season 2 and eventually become a host for the Mind Flayer. Not only that but if Steve and Billy were the same character, would Steve have died in season 3? And what about Max? Would she have been Steve's younger sister? Would she have existed at all? So many questions.

Thank God, they saw reason and developed Steve into the soft fave he is today! Plus no one could have played Billy better than Dacre.

Stranger Things writers have written a fake Steve and Dustin spinoff for MasterClass. Picture: Netflix

Elsewhere, to demonstrate exactly how they put together a script, Matt and Ross Duffer make a fake Stranger Things spinoff about Steve and Dustin in their MasterClass. They make clear that the "show isn’t real and never will be" but given that it features "treasure hunting" and a "giant lizard dude", we are gonna have to make them reconsider.

Vulture says: "The Fake Steve and Dustin Spinoff takes place between seasons three and four, riffing on Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, with Dustin’s currently offscreen dad in the Dr. Jones Sr. position."

Given that Stranger Things spin-offs are in the works, we need to make this fake spin-off actually happen! Duffer brothers, don't let us down!