Murray Bauman (Stranger Things): the paranoid journalist who was right about everything
Character · The conspiracy theorist · Seasons 2 to 5
Murray Bauman is the conspiracy theorist of Stranger Things: a former journalist turned private detective, holed up in a fortress-house, who believes everything Hawkins refuses to believe, and who is right every time. Hired to find Barb, Russian translator at Starcourt, Joyce's travel companion all the way to Siberia, he became over the seasons the funniest and the sharpest of the adults. This page brings together everything: his investigations, his karate blows, Alexei, Yuri, and his role in 1987.
The essentials
- Name: Murray Bauman, former investigative journalist in Chicago
- Job: private detective and conspiracy theorist
- First appearance: season 2 (1984), hired by Barb's parents
- Talents: Russian, investigation, karate, straight talk
- Ties: Nancy and Jonathan, Joyce and Hopper, Alexei, Yuri
- Played by: Brett Gelman
- Status: alive; arms smuggler for the party in 1987
Contents
Played by
Brett Gelman
It is Brett Gelman who lends his face to Murray Bauman on the show.
Image: Stranger Things series, via strangerthings.fr.
Who is Murray Bauman?
The first time you see him, Murray Bauman walks into the Hawkins police station with a file under his arm and a theory: a Russian girl with psychic powers, seen in the woods, and a lab hiding something. Hopper throws him out. Murray is wrong about Russia and right about everything else. That is the résumé of his career.
A former investigative journalist in Chicago, he left the press for an isolated house, turned into a fortress, with cameras, locks, maps on the walls, and vodka in the freezer. Barb's parents hire him in 1984 to find their daughter. He will not find her, but he will bring down the lab.
Murray is the only adult on the show who hides nothing from anyone, including what people do not want to hear. He tells Nancy and Jonathan they love each other, Joyce and Hopper they are circling each other, Alexei he is a coward. He is right every time. He is also, with Steve and Robin, the funniest character on the show.
The house in SesserMurray lives in Illinois, in Sesser, in a barricaded former industrial building: security cameras, armored doors, investigation boards, and a camp bed. That is where Nancy and Jonathan spend a night in 1984, where Hopper and Joyce bring Alexei in 1985, and where Murray takes, in 1986, the call that sends him to Siberia.
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Murray season by season
1984Season 2: Barb
Hired by the Hollands, Murray investigates Barb's disappearance and traces it back to the lab. Nancy and Jonathan bring him the proof he was missing: the recording of Dr. Owens's confession. He softens the content to make it credible, a chemical leak rather than a monster, and gets it published. The lab closes. That same night, between drinks, he tells the two teenagers what they refuse to see, and sends them into neighboring rooms.
1985Season 3: Alexei
Hopper and Joyce bring him a kidnapped Russian scientist, Alexei, and Murray, who speaks fluent Russian, becomes the translator. He grows fond of this prisoner who demands cherry slushies, and takes him to the Hawkins fair on July 4. Alexei is shot there by the Russian killer, Grigori. Murray, devastated, goes down with Hopper and Joyce into the Soviet base under Starcourt to shut off the machine. He guides Joyce by radio to the keys.
1986Season 4: Siberia
Joyce receives a matryoshka doll and a phone number; it is Murray she calls. Together they raise forty thousand dollars, fly to Alaska, and meet the smuggler Yuri Ismaylov, who drugs them to sell them to the Russians. On the plane, Murray, a self-taught black belt, puts Yuri out of action. After the crash in Siberia, he impersonates Yuri at the Kamchatka camp, frees Hopper, and burns the prison creatures with a flamethrower on the night of the battle of Hawkins.
1987Season 5: Austin
Under the military quarantine, Murray disguises himself as a truck driver, “Austin”, to get through the checkpoints and deliver weapons to the group. He recruits Mr. Clarke, the middle-school science teacher, to locate the group with his knowledge. In the Upside Down, he fights the soldiers. He survives the final battle.
What defines him
Cameras, locks, files, vodka. Murray distrusts everything, and the show proves him right four seasons in a row.
He speaks it fluently, without anyone knowing where he learned it. That is what makes him, in 1985, the only man able to understand Alexei.
He tells couples they love each other before they know it. Nancy and Jonathan in 1984, Joyce and Hopper in 1985. He has never been wrong.
Learned alone, by correspondence, and fearsomely effective against Yuri on a plane. Murray is the only adult on the show who hits while shouting.
Key moments
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The station, 1984
A little Russian girl, a laboratory, a complete theory. Hopper throws him out. Everything was true, except Russia.
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The vodka and the rooms
Nancy and Jonathan, drunk, hear the truth about themselves. Murray assigns them two rooms and waits, smiling, for them to use only one.
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The cherry slushie
Alexei refuses to talk until he has the right flavor. Murray translates, exasperated, then softened.
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Karate on the plane
Yuri, the syringe, and Murray who goes wild. The most absurd and most enjoyable scene of season 4.
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The flamethrower
In the Kamchatka prison, he burns creatures while Hawkins fights. A paranoid journalist, in Siberia, with a flamethrower.
Another piece from the selection: a piece from the show's universe that goes with this file.
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Their ties
| Person | What he or she is to Murray | The key moment |
|---|---|---|
| Nancy and Jonathan | The first to take him seriously, and the first he pushes toward each other | The vodka night, 1984 |
| Alexei | The prisoner who became a friend, Murray's only grief | The fair, July 4, 1985 |
| Joyce Byers | The most stubborn travel partner he has ever known | The plane to Alaska; the Kamchatka camp |
| Jim Hopper | The police chief who threw him out, then whom he goes to find in Siberia | The flamethrower |
| Yuri Ismaylov | The smuggler who betrays him, whom he knocks out, then impersonates | The karate on the plane |
| Mr. Clarke | The teacher he recruits in 1987 | The Hawkins quarantine |
Murray is one of the rare characters to go through the show without a family, without a love, and without a house in Hawkins. He has only his files and the people he helps. That may be why he sees so clearly in others: he has nothing to protect except the truth, and he says it.
His path follows that of the adults on the show, from the margins to the center. In 1984, he is a madman Hopper chases away. In 1987, he is the one who delivers the weapons. Nobody has ever given him credit out loud. The show, for its part, does it every season.
Not to be confused
| People often say | In reality | The landmark |
|---|---|---|
| Murray is a government agent | A former journalist turned private detective, with no link to the government | The Sesser bunker |
| Murray is Russian | American; he speaks fluent Russian without the show saying why | The translation of Alexei |
| Murray dies in Siberia | He survives season 4 and comes back in 1987 | The driver “Austin” |
| Murray found Barb | He found the truth, not Barb; she was already dead | The escape to the paper, 1984 |
A rarer confusion: Murray has never been a couple with Joyce, despite their season 4 duo. He is the one who pushes Joyce toward Hopper, as he had pushed Nancy toward Jonathan. His function on the show is to say what the others keep quiet, not to take their place.
Our Murray Bauman products
Murray is the favorite character of many adult fans: posters and T-shirts inspired by the bunker, the karate, and the cherry slushies. We pick every piece ourselves, and claim nothing beyond our passion for the show.
To go with your reading: a piece from the show's universe that goes with this file.
In the shopHawkins High School tiger hoodie74,90 €See the product
Frequently asked questions
Who is Murray in Stranger Things?
Murray Bauman is a former investigative journalist turned private detective and conspiracy theorist, holed up in a fortress-house in Illinois. Hired in 1984 to find Barb, he gets Hawkins Lab shut down, translates Russian in 1985, goes with Joyce to Siberia in 1986, and delivers weapons to the group in 1987.
Why does Murray speak Russian?
The show does not explain it: Murray speaks it fluently, and that is what makes him Alexei's translator in 1985, then the fake Yuri at the Kamchatka camp in 1986. Fans have assumed journalist training during the Cold War; the show leaves the question open.
Who is Alexei to Murray?
A Soviet scientist kidnapped by Hopper and Joyce in 1985, whom Murray translates then grows fond of. He takes him to the July 4 fair, where Alexei is shot by the Russian killer Grigori. His death marks Murray more than any other event on the show.
How did Murray get the lab closed?
In 1984, Nancy and Jonathan bring him the recording of Dr. Owens's confession about Barb's death. Murray rewrites the story as a chemical leak, more credible than a monster, and gets it published. The scandal forces the lab to close and lets Barb's parents get redress.
What does Murray do in season 5?
Under the Hawkins quarantine, he pretends to be a truck driver named Austin, crosses the military checkpoints to deliver weapons to the group, recruits Mr. Clarke to locate the group, and fights the soldiers in the Upside Down. He survives the final battle.
Who plays Murray Bauman?
Brett Gelman has played Murray since 2017. The images on this page come from the show and its promotion; they remain the property of their rights holders.