‘Stranger Things’ star addresses criticism of the rapidly-aging cast

Twenty-year-old Caleb McLaughlin is tired of the “getting too old” discussion about the Stranger Things cast.

McLaughlin, who plays 15-year-old Lucas Sinclair on the Netflix series, talked to IndieWire about the criticism in no uncertain .

Everyone was like, ‘Oh my god, they look so old on the screen blah blah,’ but when you watch they look like teenagers. They look like they’re in high school. Our characters are aging with us — it’s not like our characters will stay 12 years old for the rest of our lives hanging out in Mike’s basement playing D&D. Everyone grows, everyone changes. The Duffers did a great job — the show got darker as everyone aged. But I feel like people will continue to say, ‘When the next season comes out, they’re gonna be 30 years old!’ I’m probably gonna hear that for the rest of my life. I’ll be like, ‘Guys, I’m not doing Stranger Things anymore.’ ‘I know, you’re just getting so old!’ Like, what do you mean? ‘I’m 30 with kids.’ We’re getting old — I’m old now!

Virtually all the Stranger Things teenagers are played by older actors. In addition to McLaughlin’s five-year age gap, Millie Bobby Brown is 18 playing a 15-year-old, Finn Wolfhard is 19 playing a 15-year-old, Sadie Sink is 20 playing a 15-year-old, Natalia Dyer is 27 playing an 18-year-old, Charlie Heaton is 28 playing an 18-year-old, and Joe Keery is 30 playing a 19-year-old.

However, those character-actor age discrepancies pale in comparison to other famous teen shows. Bianca Lawson was in her mid-30s while playing high schooler Maya St. Germain in Pretty Little Liars, while Henry Winkler was nearly 40 at the end of Happy Days!

Considering that there’s only one season left of Stranger Things, most of the actors are or look like teenagers, and their age gaps don’t come close to those from other series, we agree with McLaughlin.