Character Deep Dive: Steve Harrington

Portrayed by: Joe Keery
Show: Stranger Things

I don’t know how to write about Steve Harrington as a character in a way that’ll do him justice, yet somehow I feel like that’s the point—like it’s okay that I’ll never have the right words because neither would he. Because none of us ever expected how important he’d become, and that’s where so much of the comfort in his character comes from. He sneaks up on you, not as stealthily as a ninja, but slowly, and then all at once. He weaves his way into our hearts and stays there, making the kind of impact I’ve been thinking about for eight years now—since Season 2, when he became my favorite character, and I never looked back. 

Now, months after Stranger Things ended with its fifth season, I still can’t find the right words. I keep turning to different playlists and fan videos, rewatching them and crying all over again because this one’s really special, isn’t he? A lot of times, when I write these Character Deep Dives that I find to be super challenging, it’s because I relate to the character in someway that I’m just not quite sure how to verbalize. But I don’t think it’s about relating to Steve here, but rather the hope he evokes. The way we all rallied together to make sure he made it to the end. The way we all hoped, not just for his survival but for his happy ending.

So, in truth, I suppose this is a disclaimer of sorts. I hope I do his character justice.

Steve Harrington and His Big Beautiful Heart

I’ve written about Steve’s capacity for love a few times, but it never feels like enough. The immensity of his heart—the inability to turn back at the sight of danger, even if he grumbles about it. The speed at which he jumps in front of the kids when there’s any sort of threat standing before them. There’s so much to look back on, so many small details to analyze, but we all know it. Those of us who care about him have clung to every scene, dissecting every minute shift in his expression and every change in his body language. We’ve taken apart his sentences, word for word, to get to the bottom of what he means, and at the root of it is all heart.

Steve Harrington is all heart, and he doesn’t know what to do about it. He loves deeply and doesn’t know what to do about it. He’s never received it from his parents; he barely has admiration or respect from his friends at the beginning of the show, and at the end, for him, it’s constantly overflowing. The love he gives is endless, even if he doesn’t realize that’s what it is. Still, so much of his heart is present in his vision of six kids and a family. And it’s not so much the specificity of the statement—but the hope of it all, the desire to have this place and people where he can give them the kind of love he’s never received.

In our feature, STEVE HARRINGTON GIVES MORE LOVE THAN HE’S RECEIVED, I’d said, “It’s imperative to look into the moment in Season 1 when he goes over to help remove the cruel words written on the theater marquee. There’s something about Joe Keery’s line delivery here that hits like a ton of bricks while showing us that, though Steve doesn’t really know how to be of use, he just wants to help. He wants to do something that’ll benefit someone else. He wants to make lives more accessible, especially for those he’s hurt in his selfishness. Now, while we don’t know concrete details about his parents other than that his father is a ‘grade-A a$shole,’ we can be sure that there’s a significant amount of love lacking in Steve’s life. We see this rather evidently in the first season, based on his behavior and approach to everything, but especially in how his growth later leads to exhibiting the parental adoration that’s inherently missing in his life.”

These small moments, long before we see his full circle character development, show us plenty to understand his capacity for love. He doesn’t know any of the kids when he’s dragged toward a never-ending mission by Dustin, yet he does it anyway. Grumbling, yes. He questions everything—as anyone would—but he never says no. He never turns back on helping them, unless he’s so sure that his plan is the one that’ll lead them to safety.

In the same article, I’d also said, “Steve isn’t a nerd either, which makes his presence among this group that much more interesting. He doesn’t play Dungeons and Dragons, the man’s never seen The Lord of the Rings, and science isn’t exactly his best subject. Still, he always shows up because one accidental thrust towards protecting them became his most important role yet. More often than not, he thinks he knows best when that’s far from the case, but it’s a sign not of the detail that he wants to be correct but that he doesn’t want to be wrong. We can presume this is due to his upbringing and the absence of any form of acknowledgment in his childhood, but simultaneously, it’s because if he’s wrong, then he’s not doing right by the kids.”

All of this is because of his heart. It’s because deep down, he’s a good person. It’s because the absence of love in his life is the very thing he wants to bring to others. It’s because while his parents clearly never believed in him, he wants to believe in the kids, despite the moments where he tries, maybe a little too hard, to protect them. He doesn’t do a single thing that doesn’t come from his heart, and even if he did? That’d be okay because he’s a teenager. He’s a kid. And amid everything, none of them got to be kids. They’re going to make mistakes, and they’re going to learn from those mistakes, which Steve does. Throughout all five seasons, few grow and learn as much as he does.

During all five seasons, no one gives as fiercely as Steve does, without any superpowers backing him. He just…tries. And it’s as he tries that he succeeds in a way that’s almost heartbreaking because by the end, he’s left holding back tears.

This is the part of the deep dive that I always dreaded writing because if Stranger Things Season 5 ended with better circumstances, we’d have something lovelier at our hands. And while the epilogue is sweet to a degree because the older kids are still friends in the future, the fact that he’s still alone—still going through his days wanting something bigger hurts. As a writer, I’d never leave a character like Steve alone like this. And sure, the show was never a romance, nor did it ever promise us happy endings, but he’s one of the few characters who wanted it.

Related Content: Scene Breakdown: Steve Harrington’s Future Plans in Stranger Things

Again, Steve’s vision about five kids and an RV isn’t about the specificity. It isn’t about Nancy either. It’s about wanting to come home to laugher and noise and love surrounding him at every corner. Yes, he’s a couch. Yes, he’s respected. Yes, he’s still friends with Dustin and all the younger kids, but that was never what he wanted. He wanted more. He deserved more.

Years later, and he’s still just filling cracks in his heart, trying to get through. So much of his character development is seen through Joe Keery’s performance, and this final scene wrecks me because everything he’s holding back is all that he’s ever wanted. More love. More joy. Contentment. Happiness. Something bigger.

There are characters in the show that needed to leave Hawkins to find themselves. But that was never Steve. He found himself in the darkness. He grew through the trials—every wound and battle that scarred him physically and emotionally. Steve’s growth is palpable in all the little moments, so while others had to leave, he needed to stay. Yet, when he stays, he still doesn’t have all that he deserves.

And sure, maybe that’s how it works in the real world for the people who are like him, but shouldn’t we have had the chance to see such a beloved character finally find the love he’s been searching for? Platonic love is hugely significant, but for someone who wants more, it’s not everything they’re searching for. This is a detail that’s always going to make his story feel a little incomplete where canon is concerned. The brief dating history we are told about does very little to fill the gaps, and all it manages to do is leave us with the reminder of the bittersweet last shot of him.

Steve Harrington Has the Best Character Arc on Stranger Things 

Despite everything, there’s no denying that Steve Harrington has the best character arc on Stranger Things. To go from the character no one believes in to the one everyone’s relying on is the best kind of growth. It’s a significant growth. There’s something in every season that showcases just how much he evolves, but what always sticks the landing is his giddy excitement when he tells Dustin that he got the job at Scoop’s Ahoy in Season 3.

It’s in the same season where we learn that his dad is punishing him for not getting into tech, but the fact that he’s proud of himself for landing something is what’s so important because it shows us that he’s trying. He’s been trying. He’s constantly trying. You tell Steve Harrington you don’t believe he can do something, and he’ll find a way, even if he isn’t the brightest, because he wants to believe in himself.

He wants to know that he can achieve something, which is where his vision comes in again, because believing in ourselves is a huge part of our own human growth. And for Steve, it’s about understanding that he’s always had greatness inside of him, no matter how other people looked at him. It doesn’t matter that his dad doesn’t believe in him because he’s capable. He’s good enough. And the fact that he wants to be—the fact that he’s aware of it? There’s a lot of beauty in how simple and human Steve’s character growth is. Most of the other characters deal with some huge obstacle in their path, but with Steve, it’s about the ordinary moments that we, as the audience, can also relate to a bit more.

The Babysitter, The Best Friend, The Mom, The Dad – The Everything

“You die, I die.” It’s as simple as those two words to underscore just how much Steve Harrington means to Dustin Henderson. Even if the show hadn’t given us their fight in Season 5, we’d still know the truth behind this declaration because while Dustin joked about it in earlier seasons, we were fully aware of how deeply he cared for Steve.

We were fully aware of the fact that when the two crossed paths in Season 2, it changed something in both of them. It gave them the brother they’ve never had and the kind of friendship they’d never find anywhere else. It gave them hope. It gave them someone to rely on, despite their diverging paths during parts of Season 4.

Related Content: Steve and Dustin’s Growth in Stranger Things Season 5 Strengthens Their Friendship

Steve starts as a reluctant babysitter, and he becomes everything. The best friend, the “mom,” the fatherly figure, the brother, the friend, the ex-boyfriend, the muscle, the bait—everything. It’s why he’s so deeply beloved as a character, because he encapsulates something so special for every person that there truly are few words to describe his impact.

More importantly, he’s hope personified. The teenager dirtbag turned actual hero. The protector. He’s the anchor grounding all of them, the force standing before them, taking every beating just so no one else has to suffer. Battered and bruised in almost every scene, but still pushing forward. Still trying. Still believing. Still extending his hand out to someone else. The bigger person. The one who actually apologizes. The one who loves fiercely and without limits. There’s no one else like him, and he’s pretty special, isn’t he?