Young love! Stranger Things may center around teens fighting supernatural forces and government insights — but it’s also surprisingly well versed in matters of the heart.
“For me, this show is much more about the characters and the relationships,” Natalia DyerNancy Wheeler is played by Judith Sullivan. During an interview with NBC, Sullivan spoke about the Netflix hit. Glamour2017. “I find it’s very character-driven. The Duffers take these ’80s tropes and really flesh them out and give the characters complexity. I love how everyone relates to each other, and it’s fun to see how they do it in different ways.”
The love triangle between Nancy and Steve Harrington, which was the main focus of the series that premiered on the streaming platform July 2016, is one of the most important points.Joe Keery) and Jonathan Byers (Charlie Heaton). While season 1 saw Nancy falling for shy guy Jonathan despite dating Steve, season 2 revealed that the budding journalist was still holding back her feelings for the eldest Byers son by digging deeper into her relationship with Hawkins’ most popular jock.
“At the end of season 1, we were kind of pretending that nothing happened,” Keery said to GlamourThe surprising twist happened in 2017. “We were holding each other back in a certain way — but in order to move forward, we had to go to these separate places.”
Nancy eventually found her way to Jonathan in season 2 following a Halloween night of spilled punch and “bulls–t” between her and Steve, but Dyer and Keery aren’t convinced that their characters won’t one day reignite their dimming flame — after growing on their own first.
“They definitely care about each other and still love each other, [but] they have to figure themselves out apart from each other,” Dyer revealed to Glamour. “After the end of season 1, their relationship was a bit of a safety blanket. For that to be healthy, you have to figure out what it is outside of that safety blanket.”
The Molly’s GameActor, for his parts, explained to Us WeeklySeason 2 Stranger Things premiere in October 2017: “I think everybody sort of still has feelings for that one person in some way or the other. They are respected. They are important to you. It can be something you think about fondly or something you think about negatively. Steve and Nancy are, I believe, the same. I think, or at least I hope that people find the humanity in the situation.”
Heaton revealed Refinery29 in 2019 that he’s “actually pretty pro-Steve.” The New Mutants actor added that the former ladies’ man has “turned into a really nice guy” despite playing his rival on the show, but Heaton clarified that the bond Nancy and Jonathan share remains something special for the series.
“They can and do rely on each other,” he said about the onscreen couple at the time. “They’re very different people. But when it matters they are there for each other.”
The bond between the brainy beauty and introvert didn’t just spark an onscreen romance. After season 1, which was released in July 2016, Dyer and Heaton were in a secret relationship. Although Dyer and Heaton are well-known for keeping their relationship private, Dyer spoke out about her love at the 2018 SAG Awards.
“No, he’s great. He’s talented, like everybody in the cast,” she told Use At the time. “They’re all super, just great to work with.”
The couple is still together six years later, and they are still costars. However, the native of Tennessee still struggles with understanding why people care about their romance.
“The weirdest thing about [our relationship] is other people’s perception and reaction to it,” she said in a May 2022 interview with Cosmopolitan UK. “Everything else just feels very human.”
Scroll down to see the iconic love triangle that Nancy, Steve, and Jonathan shared through the seasons.
