‘Stranger Things’ Season 4: Joseph Quinn Explains How He Transformed Into an American Teenager

Stranger Things Season 4 added Joseph Quinn to the cast for the role of Eddie Munson. Quinn, a 29-year-old British actor portrays an American teenager in the Netflix series. The actor’s diet played a significant role in helping him to look younger, while a vocal coach taught him how to nail the American accent.

Eddie Munson’s hair was an essential part of the character

In Stranger Things Season 4, Quinn portrays Eddie Munson. Eddie is the eccentric leader of the Hellfire Club. He is a nonconformist who embraces his status as a “freak.” Eddie’s classic ’80s hairstyle is a quintessential part of the character.

“It was great fun putting something on that drastically changed the way I felt,” Quinn told Vulture. “It was modeled on all of those seminal ’80s heavy-metal bands — Eddie Van Halen was a big one and all the guys in Iron Maiden and Mötley Crüe. It’s a real unit, isn’t it?”

Joseph Quinn stressed about nailing the American accent for ‘Stranger Things’ Season 4

For Quinn, another important part of nailing the role of Eddie Munson in Stranger Things Season 4 was practicing his American accent. “Yes, he’s significantly younger than me and significantly not from south London,” Quinn said of his character to Vulture.

“My vocal coach is incredible and would do a lot of Zoom sessions with me throughout the filming process. Whenever I was resting on my laurels or even felt like I nailed it, I’d still go back and see her. Self-doubt can be useful sometimes.”

Quinn’s first monologue in the Hawkins High cafeteria made him especially nervous. “Everyone was supportive. I enjoyed that day a lot. It was daunting, though. There was a room of 200 actors watching me.”

“I was in the acting weeds, at that point where I was trying to stay in my accent for a little while and was totally doubting myself and getting on everyone’s t**s: ‘Do I sound good? Do I sound American?’ Joe Keery was like, ‘Dude, you’re so down the rabbit hole right now, I can’t save you.'”

Quinn also lost weight to appear younger

Quinn’s Stranger Things Season 4 character is definitely meant to be older than Dustin and Mike. He is in his third senior year at Hawkins High, which would make him around 19-20 years old. At 29, Quinn is still significantly older than his character. His diet played an important role in transforming him into a teen.

“To make me look younger, I fasted and didn’t eat carbohydrates and drink black coffee and was f***ing miserable about it,” the actor told Variety. “Eddie needed to be sinewy. You feel different when you’re ten kilograms lighter. But you don’t want to be messing with your food habits for that long. It’s good in the short term, but after doing it for ages, I started to get a little grumpy.”

All episodes of Stranger Things are currently streaming on Netflix.