‘Stranger Things’ star breaks down character’s fate

This story contains spoilers for Season 4 of “Stranger Things.”

The newest addition to “Stranger Things” arrived in Season 4 of Netflix’s sci-fi/fantasy series with the intensity of a 10-tonne Metallica riff when Eddie Munson jumped on a table in the Hawkins High cafeteria and proclaimed that forced conformity was “the real monster!”

It was clear then that Munson, played by Joseph Quinn, was a different sort of misfit among the other ’80s-era AV club nerds we’ve come to know and love since the series debuted six years ago. The intense leader of the Dungeons & Dragons-obsessed “Hellfire Club” is an avid (and appropriately longhaired) heavy metal fan. A stoner who’s repeated 12th grade more times than anyone can remember. And his Slayer-meets-“Wayne’s World” fashion sense promises to be the inspiration for one of 2022’s most popular Halloween costumes.

Now’s the time to stop reading if you have not finished the entire fourth season of “Stranger Things,” the final two episodes of which premiered last week because there are major spoilers ahead. And Munson, who is called a “loser” and demonized by many in his Indiana small town, plays a critical role in fighting the show’s true villain, Vecna.

British actor Quinn spoke to the L.A. Times about the wig he wears to play Eddie, what it’s like to fight a swarm of demobats with a broom and Munson’s fate in the season finale of the Duffer Brothers’ blockbuster. The following has been edited for clarity.

Were you invested in “Stranger Things” before you signed onto the series?

I was, like everyone, completely charmed by it. It was very surreal to be asked to participate in it … It’s still baffling to me today that I got asked to come and have this most surreal ride of my life in a brilliant TV show.

Eddie Munson is into all the things that set off the satanic panic of the 1980s: D&D, heavy metal, recreational drugs. It was a time when the religious right was blaming all manner of crimes on devil worship.

Using Eddie as a vehicle for that storyline enriches the (narrative) and it feels authentic — well as authentic as “Stranger Things” can be. As the audience, we expect to be put off by him somehow, to find him menacing, but you actually start to feel a bit sorry for him. Poor, poor thing, as my grandmother would say.

But when we’re introduced to Eddie in Volume 1, he is so zealous and wild-eyed he exudes bad-guy potential.

That first scene where you meet him, he’s so ostentatious … so provocative, attention-seeking and in your face. If you’re a person that doesn’t respond well to that, you’re going to be allergic … But it’s a testament to the brilliant writing that the (Duffer) Brothers had in place, because the next time that we meet him, it’s this quite tender moment with (classmate) Chrissy and you get a very different side to him.

The high school archetypes in England may be different than they are here, but who were you in high school?

I was a drama nerd who loved acting. I also tried to be friends with everyone. So I guess I’ll say I was weird? Yeah, a bit of a weirdo.

In the final episode of Volume 2, Eddie practically gets his own metal video. He’s standing on top of the trailer in this hellscape, shredding Metallica’s “Master of Puppets” on his V-shaped guitar.

I think this is the only world in which something like that can happen and it doesn’t feel like a pastiche. It doesn’t feel forced. And hilariously, it doesn’t feel melodramatic. It just feels right. And more than anything, it just feels fun.

When you were fighting those bat things …

I think they’re called demobats.

What was actually coming at you when you shot those scenes?

Nothing. It was so funny. You get these hilarious instructions from Matt and Ross, like “… and bat! And bat! And broom!” They’re shouting “bat!” at you at you have to pretend there’s a bat there.

Do people recognize you now?

Yes, definitely. I think I was only recognized maybe five or six times in my life before this show came out … It’s a privilege, but it’s very weird. It’s going to take some adjustment.

I’m saving this part for the bottom of the story because it’s a spoiler, and it makes me sad. Eddie is the only sympathetic character that gets killed off. I’m upset! … Are you braced for the collective mourning over Eddie’s demise?

I’ve been texting the Duffers intermittently during the hiatus period and yeah, we’re bracing ourselves. There’s a beginning, middle and end to every character’s arc and I feel incredibly touched by the reception that Eddie’s gotten, how inviting they’ve been. There’s a lot of devotion toward the show and its characters … It’s humbling and something I never expected to feel.

Any last words for those mourning Eddie?

Thank you for having him while he was here.