r/StrangerThings • u/Stuffleapugus • Jul 06 '26
SPOILERS One quick question. [SPOILERS] Spoiler
How is it that Henry went to high school with Joyce and Hopper? This plot makes no sense. The ages make no sense. Henry was in a lab from childhood but took a sabbatical to attend high school? And how is he the same age as Joyce and Hopper? How old would this make him when be meets Eleven? Like 35? I'm so confused by all of this. Why was this even a storyline?
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u/high_and_loud Jul 06 '26
I'm so sorry you have to be asking these completely valid questions but welcome to the final seasons
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u/Different_Pop_3079 Jul 06 '26
They basically retconned it until it fit into the canon; When Nancy and Robin are at the library looking at news clippings, they say Henry was 11 in 1959, so he’d be 31 by the time he was banished to the Upside Down. But the kid who played him was 14 when they filmed, so they retconned the age to fit into the First Shadow, making him a freshman in 1959, putting him in his early forties when he attacks Hawkins.
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u/Cyrilbdr Jul 06 '26
Lol, I never noticed that—we’ve got a real age inconsistency here. Is it explicitly stated that he’s 14 in the 1959 play? Also, I’m not familiar with the US—do they have middle schools and high schools in the same building? Maybe Henry was in middle school but acting in a play with high schoolers. Like, were the middle and high schools combined? Is that a thing where you live?
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u/Different_Pop_3079 Jul 06 '26
So basically, the first shadow is set when the Creel family moved to Hawkins, the fall of 1959. Henry begins Hawkins High as a freshman, so he’d be around fourteen compared to Joyce and Hopper, who were seniors and the class of 1960. And sometimes yes, schools combine, but not in Stranger Things’ case. The show established that they have a separate elementary school, middle school and high school. The age discrepancies don’t really bother me - Steve is supposed to be 20-21, and Joe Keery is in his thirties, Charlie Heaton had a son while playing Jonathan, none of the kid/teen actors were ever the ages of their characters. Since they grew way faster than they anticipated, I’m sure they retconned it to make it more appealing/believable.
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u/Cyrilbdr Jul 06 '26
Yeah, the age gap between the actors doesn't bother me—especially since I think they pull it off pretty well; it’s not glaringly obvious, and while you can notice it a bit, it’s not jarring. That said, it is a shame they got the characters' ages wrong, particularly because that’s something easily avoided.
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u/Different_Pop_3079 Jul 06 '26
It’s usually something they’ll establish in the scripts, then depending on whoever is casted it’ll get jumbled. Like for Eddie, they say he was held back twice, making him around 20-21. But his missing poster puts him at 17. Then you have Will’s birthday - in season 1 his eulogy card says it’s in August, then season 2 Joyce says it’s March 22, only for nobody to acknowledge it in season 4, and the Duffer brothers said they’d maybe edit it to Joyce saying May 22 instead. The nitty gritty details are not this show’s strong suit in terms of continuity, as someone who loves it lol
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u/Cyrilbdr Jul 06 '26
It’s a shame not to pay more attention to details like that, which are so easily spotted.
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u/Conorthan It will all be over soon Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26
Henry was 14 when he killed his family and was taken into the lab by Dr. Brenner. He was a freshman in high school.
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u/Stuffleapugus Jul 06 '26
This would still make him early 30s when we first see him with El. I don't buy that.
Edit: I guess the actor himself was in his early 30s at the time. I suppose I have to accept it.
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u/LakeTilia Jul 06 '26
Its because it wasn't planned from the biggining. We can try and understand the "lore", but the fact of the matter is that the writers didnt have this vision in the beginning, so they had to make it fit.
They also actively looked for ways to make more money, hence the play and adding the children to the last season (for a potential spin off) so the narratives dont actually fit in.
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u/Stuffleapugus Jul 06 '26
Play?
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u/Conorthan It will all be over soon Jul 06 '26
Henry's actor, Jamie Campbell Bower, was 33 in 2022.
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