One of the biggest movies of 2017 was IT, based on one half of Stephen King's terrifying novel of the same name. The movie pitted the Losers Club of misfit teenagers against the murderous clown known as Pennywise, and it was a smash success. Many of the young actors playing the Losers were more or less unknown, with the notable exception of Finn Wolfhard, who plays Mike in Netflix's Stranger Things. As it turns out, Wolfhard's time on IT had some interesting consequences for Stranger Things Season 2. Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer explained what happened, saying this about post-IT Wolfhard:
Matt Duffer: He's got a foul mouth. That's the thing. After he came back from shooting IT, he did it before we shot Season 2. He was f-bombing everywhere. I was like, 'What happened to my innocent Finn Wolfhard?'Ross Duffer: He was so sweet before IT. IT totally corrupted him.Matt Duffer: Not us. IT corrupted him.
In IT, Finn Wolfhard played a character by the name of Richie "Trashmouth" Tozier, and he spent a lot of his time on screen swearing up a storm. In fact, despite the fact that both IT and Stranger Things are set in the 1980s and feature a group of outsider kids who ride their bikes everywhere, Richie's foul mouth sets him quite distinctly apart from Mike. If anything, the role of Richie was proof that Finn Wolfhard is a versatile young actor. How many of us can even imagine sweet, wholesome, awkward Mike saying most of what Richie had to say?
The Duffer brothers' comments to Variety don't necessarily mean that we'll suddenly get a foulmouthed Mike Wheeler in Stranger Things Season 2, and they did make it clear that they were joking that Finn Wolfhard has been corrupted. Even if Mike goes to some dark places after the loss of Eleven, something tells me he won't be dropping f-bombs on screen. The footage we've seen so far of Season 2 points to an even bigger monster than the Demogorgon and perhaps even scarier twists, but the kids probably won't go any farther than the occasional chant of "Shit! Shit! Shit!" when something goes horribly wrong. Unless there's a blooper reel or some uncensored behind-the-scenes footage, we may never see Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler channeling Trashmouth Tozier.
That said, we should expect some changes to Mike and the other kids of Stranger Things. The Duffer brothers have said that Season 2 is more like a movie sequel than anything else, and it will tackle some very different issues than the first outing. The Upside Down seems to become spreading up to the world inhabited by our characters, and Will seems to in a whole lot of trouble after his encounters in the first season. Throw in Eleven's mysterious disappearance and all the new characters, and it's difficult to say what to expect.
Unfortunately, we still have about a month left to wait before we can find out for ourselves. Stranger Things Season 2 won't be available on Netflix until Friday, October 27 at 12:01 a.m. PT. Check out our fall TV premiere guide for what you can watch to pass the time while we wait.
