Maya Hawke on Transitioning to Series Regular in “Stranger Things”

Maya Hawke in "Stranger Things"

Ever since Stranger Things aired in 2016, it’s been a huge hit and Season 3’s summer 2019 premiere was no different.

Season 3 introduced new characters including Robin, played by relative newcomer Maya Hawke. In the latest installment of Netflix’s FYSEE TV series Scene Stealers, Hawke joined Emmy-winning cast director Carmen Cuba to discuss how it feels to go from being a fangirl to landing a role on the series.

“For an actor, you’re a fan of the show not just as an entity…You’re a fan of the people who make it, the action that goes on in it, the dialogue, the environment [and] the fun it looks like people are having,” Hawke said.“I didn’t have, like, a fandom reaction,” she says. “I had a thrilling reaction to the idea I could get to say that dialogue that the Duffer Brothers write so intelligently and so specifically,” she continued.

Robin works with Steve at Scoops Ahoy, a local ice cream shop, and she keeps him on his toes. Although they were enemies in high school, the two become friends and help Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) and Erica (Priah Ferguson) as well as the rest of the Stranger Things gang, defeat the Russians and the Demogorgon.

Fans rooted for Steve and Robin to get together, but later in the season, Robin revealed that she’s a lesbian which only strengthens their relationship.

On playing Robin Hawke said, “I love playing this character. She really allows me to embrace parts of myself that I’ve often tried to hide. She has this darkness to her, this kind of physical awkwardness, a little bit of a social outcast feeling to her and an intense intelligence. Those are all pieces of my personality, but they’re not necessarily the ones that I try to put first.”

We can’t wait to catch her in Season 4 of Stranger Things, which has yet to release a date. But, in February, Netflix revealed that production on Season 4 has begun.