Maya Hawke: the actress who plays Robin Buckley, daughter of Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke
Actresses · Maya Hawke · Robin Buckley
Maya Hawke arrived in season 3, in an ice-cream uniform, with a scoreboard and a machine-gun delivery. Robin Buckley was supposed to be a supporting character; she became the brain of the group and one of the most loved figures in the show. Portrait of an actress born in cinema.
The essentials
- Born: July 8, 1998, New York
- Parents: Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke
- Role: Robin Buckley, seasons 3 to 5
- Elsewhere: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Inside Out 2, three albums
Contents
Maya Hawke, born into cinema
Maya Hawke is the daughter of Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke, who met on the set of Gattaca. Dyslexic, she changes schools several times before entering Juilliard School, which she leaves for her first role: Jo March in the BBC adaptation of Little Women, in 2017.
She auditions for season 3 in 2018. Robin Buckley is written as Steve's sarcastic coworker at Scoops Ahoy; the Duffers have said they widened the role from the first scenes, so much did the actress make the character exist.
The Scoops Ahoy T-shirt, Robin's.
In the shopMen's Scoops Ahoy T-shirt39,90 €See the product
Robin, the decoder
Robin deciphers the Russian code, discovers the base under Starcourt, is drugged with truth serum, and, on the tiles of the movie-theater bathroom, tells Steve she likes girls. The scene, played without music, made Robin the first openly lesbian character on the show. In season 4, she investigates with Nancy at Pennhurst and becomes, with Steve, the reference comic duo.
Maya Hawke said she asked the writers that Robin not be defined only by her orientation, and season 5, with Vickie, gives her a love story like the others.
The “You rule / You suck” boardThe chalkboard on which Robin notes Steve's failures with customers was thought up on set as a simple gag; it became the most reproduced prop of Season 3.
Tarantino, Pixar, Wes Anderson
| Year | Project | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Little Women (BBC) | Jo March |
| 2019 | Once Upon a Time in Hollywood | Flowerchild, Manson's disciple |
| 2020 | Mainstream | Frankie |
| 2022 | Do Revenge | Eleanor |
| 2023 | Asteroid City (Wes Anderson) | A schoolteacher |
| 2024 | Inside Out 2 | The voice of Anxiety |
In five years, she has filmed for Tarantino, Wes Anderson, Bradley Cooper (Maestro) and lent her voice to Anxiety in Inside Out 2, one of the biggest hits of 2024. She has also played the writer Flannery O'Connor in Wildcat, the film directed by her father.
Three albums
Maya Hawke is also a singer: Blush (2020), Moss (2022) and Chaos Angel (2024), three folk albums she writes and takes on tour. She also voiced Robin in a podcast spun off from the show, Rebel Robin: Surviving Hawkins, in 2021.
Robin, season by season
| Season | What Robin lives through |
|---|---|
| 3 | Deciphers the Russian code, goes down under Starcourt, confides in Steve |
| 4 | Investigates at Pennhurst with Nancy, dives into the Upside Down, faces Vecna in the Creel house |
| 5 | Lives with Vickie under the quarantine, protects Max, holds on to the end |
Three seasons were enough to make Robin a pillar: she is, with Steve, the character the writers use to say out loud what the others think under their breath. Maya Hawke has said that her rate of speech, in the show, was her own, barely sped up.
Markers
| Year | Step |
|---|---|
| 1998 | Born in New York |
| 2017 | Jo March for the BBC |
| 2018 | Robin's casting |
| 2019 | Season 3; Once Upon a Time in Hollywood |
| 2020 | First album, Blush |
| 2022 | Season 4; Do Revenge |
| 2024 | Inside Out 2; Chaos Angel |
| 2025 | End of the show |
The Robin figure, in a sailor uniform.
In the shopLego Robin Buckley Scoops Ahoy mini figure14,90 €See the product
What you know less about her
Maya Hawke has a younger brother, Levon, who himself appeared in season 4 in a role kept secret at the announcement. She is the granddaughter of Buddhism scholar Robert Thurman and model Nena von Schlebrügge, and a distant cousin of playwright Tennessee Williams. Dyslexic, she finished school at a private school in Brooklyn that does not grade students, then took summer classes at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and at the Stella Adler Studio in New York before Juilliard.
Like her mother and her grandmother, she started with modeling, for Vogue, then for a Calvin Klein campaign directed by Sofia Coppola in 2017. It was Sofia Coppola, for that matter, who wanted her for a live-action Little Mermaid, a project dropped in 2015.
Robin in 1987: the voice of the radio
The last season opens on Robin celebrating her 500th morning show on WSQK. The station is the group's command post, and she is the one who, by playing Diana Ross's “Upside Down” on the air, announces in code that a crawl will happen that evening. Her relationship with Vickie, secret at first, is caught by Will at the hospital; it is Robin who, in the tunnels, tells him about her own coming out to Steve and says she learned to accept herself without waiting for other people's validation.
That conversation is presented by the Duffers as the trigger of Will's powers. Robin is then captured by the army at the hospital, saved by the explosion of Karen's dryer, and climbs the antenna with the group in the finale. In spring 1989, she finds Steve, Nancy, and Jonathan at the station again.
Five Robin scenes to rewatch
-
The Russian code, 1985
With a notebook and a radio, Robin translates “the silver cat feeds” and finds the base.
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The theater bathrooms, 1985
Drugged, on the tiles, she tells Steve she likes girls. He answers with a joke, then with a friendship.
-
Pennhurst, 1986
In a borrowed dress, with Nancy, she gets Victor Creel talking.
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Family Video, 1986
Vickie comes into the store; Robin loses her words for the first time.
-
The tunnels, 1987
She tells Will about her coming-out, and gives him the strength that follows.
Robin's pace, and where it comes from
What made Robin from her first scene is her speed of speech: a machine gun of observations about Steve, her customers, and the navy, which Maya Hawke has said is her own, barely sped up. The Duffers wrote the character as Steve's sarcastic coworker and widened her from the first scenes shot, so much did the actress make her exist; in one season, Robin went from supporting role to pillar of the group.
That energy has a price for the actress: the truth-serum scene, in the Russian interrogation room then in the movie-theater restroom, was played with a humor that made people forget it contained the most important coming-out of the show. It is that mix that explains the character's longevity.
The Ahoy keychain, for next summer.
In the shopScoops Ahoy Steve and Robin vest29,90 €See the product
TakeawayBorn in 1998, daughter of Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke, trained at Juilliard. Robin Buckley since Season 3, the decoder of Scoops Ahoy. Tarantino, Wes Anderson, Pixar: a career already dense. Three folk albums: Blush, Moss, Chaos Angel.
Frequently asked questions
Who plays Robin in Stranger Things?
Maya Hawke, American actress and singer born in 1998, daughter of Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke, from season 3 on.
In which films does Maya Hawke act?
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Do Revenge, Asteroid City, Maestro, Wildcat, and Inside Out 2, where she is the voice of Anxiety.
Does Maya Hawke sing?
Yes, she has released three albums: Blush, Moss and Chaos Angel.
Is Robin in a relationship in the show?
Yes, with Vickie, from season 5 on.
Does Maya Hawke's brother play in the show?
Yes, Levon Thurman-Hawke was hired for season 4 in a role not revealed at the announcement, in October 2020.
Did Maya Hawke almost play the Little Mermaid?
Yes: Sofia Coppola wanted her for her live-action adaptation, but the producers preferred another actress, and the project was dropped in 2015.
Did Maya Hawke act with her father?
Yes, in the miniseries The Good Lord Bird in 2020, where she plays the daughter of Ethan Hawke's character, and in Wildcat, which he directed, where she is Flannery O'Connor.