Steve Harrington (Stranger Things): from king of Hawkins High to Hawkins's best babysitter
Character · The king of Hawkins High · Seasons 1 to 5
Steve Harrington is the character who changed the most over five seasons of Stranger Things: the arrogant high-school king of 1983 became, nail bat in hand, the big brother of a whole group of kids. Nancy's boyfriend, Jonathan's rival, Dustin's partner, Robin's best friend, he goes through every season with no power, no plan, with an impeccable haircut and a courage nobody expected. This page brings together everything: his five seasons, his bat, his wounds, and what the finale does with him.
The essentials
- Name: Steve Harrington, son of Danny Harrington
- First appearance: season 1 (November 1983), a senior at Hawkins High
- Signature weapon: a nail-studded baseball bat
- Jobs: Scoops Ahoy (1985), Family Video (1986), radio host (1987)
- Ties: Nancy, Dustin, Robin, Jonathan
- Played by: Joe Keery
- Status: alive at the end of season 5, coach and teacher at Hawkins High
Contents
Played by
Joe Keery
It is Joe Keery who lends his face to Steve Harrington on the show.
Image: Stranger Things series, via hips.hearstapps.com.
Who is Steve Harrington?
In November 1983, Steve Harrington is exactly what you expect of a high-school king in a show set in the 1980s: popular, sure of himself, a nice car, mediocre friends, and a girlfriend, Nancy Wheeler, whom he treats with a lightness she does not deserve. He should be the villain of the story. The show had another plan for him.
Everything turns in the Byers house, the night he comes to apologize to Nancy and Jonathan. He walks into a trap on fire, a Demogorgon, and two teenagers who do not run. He could leave. He picks up the nail bat and swings. From that instant, Steve is no longer the king of Hawkins High: he is the one who stays.
The rest of the show transforms him, without ever giving him a power or a plan. He loses Nancy, gains Dustin, finds Robin, takes hits every season and never gives up. Fans understood it before the writers: Steve is the ordinary heart of Hawkins, the one who should not be there and who always is.
Hawkins's babysitterThe nickname comes from season 2: Dustin, alone with his pet that ate the cat, runs into Steve in the Wheelers' driveway and ropes him in. Since then, Steve drives, feeds, protects, and yells at the kids in the party like a substitute big brother. He never accepted the title, and he never refused it either.
In the shop: a piece inspired by Steve Harrington, chosen by us.
In the shopKids' Steve's Babies T-shirt24,90 €See the product
Steve season by season
1983Season 1: the high-school king
Steve is dating Nancy Wheeler, invites her to his house for a party by his pool, and does not notice that Barb, Nancy's friend, has vanished from his yard. When he finds Jonathan photographing them, he breaks his camera and sprays insults on the town movie theater. Then he comes back to apologize, at the worst possible moment: the Byers house is trapped, the Demogorgon is there, and Steve, without thinking, picks up the bat. He ends the season still with Nancy, and changed.
1984Season 2: the babysitter
Nancy leaves him for Jonathan, with the harshest words on the show, one Halloween party night. Steve takes it, and runs into Dustin, who is looking for an adult to help him find Dart, his escaped creature. The unlikely duo tracks the demodogs to the junkyard, locks itself in a school bus, and faces the pack. Steve then takes the lead of the expedition into the tunnels with the kids, gets beaten by Billy Hargrove at the Byers', and still drives, head bleeding, to the end of the mission. He gives Dustin his hair secret before the Snow Ball.
1985Season 3: Scoops Ahoy
Rejected by college, Steve sells ice cream in a sailor uniform in the Starcourt mall, alongside a coworker who cordially despises him, Robin Buckley. Together, with Dustin and Erica, they decode a Russian radio message, discover a secret base under the mall, get captured, drugged, and interrogated. In the movie-theater restrooms, under truth serum, Steve tells Robin he loves her; she answers that she is a lesbian. He laughs, she does too, and they become inseparable. After the July 4 battle, both are hired at Family Video.
1986Season 4: Lover's Lake
Spring 1986. Steve, Robin, Nancy, Dustin, Max, Lucas, and Erica investigate Vecna's murders. On Lover's Lake, Steve dives to check for a gate under the water, and is sucked into the Upside Down. Attacked by a swarm of demobats, he is bitten in the sides and survives thanks to Nancy, Robin, and Eddie who come to get him. His feelings for Nancy come back. In the final assault on the Upside Down version of the Creel house, he throws the Molotov cocktails that set Vecna on fire with Robin and Nancy. Vecna is badly wounded, but escapes.
1987Season 5: the radio and the end
In fall 1987, Hawkins is under military quarantine and Steve hosts a pirate radio that serves as a link between the survivors. His rivalry with Jonathan for Nancy's heart reaches its breaking point, then is resolved when Jonathan saves his life at the heart of the battle. Nancy and Jonathan, for their part, part on good terms. Steve survives the last confrontation. The epilogue shows him where nobody imagined him in 1983: baseball coach and sex-ed teacher at Hawkins High, with a new girlfriend, Kristen.
What defines him
Steve does not know, does not understand, does not plan anything. He drives, he hits, he stays. It is the simplest definition of courage the show offers.
He did not make it, he picked it up. It comes back in four seasons, and every time it appears, you know he is going to hold the line.
Dustin first, then Lucas, Max, Erica. He scolds them, protects them, drives them everywhere. He never wanted this role; he held it better than anyone.
Four sprays of hairspray after the blow-dryer, when the hair is still damp. The only secret Steve has ever kept, and he gives it to Dustin.
Key moments
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The bat, first time
Byers house, 1983. He comes back to apologize, he leaves a hero. The plan of Steve picking up the bat launched five seasons of redemption.
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The junkyard bus
Locked in with Dustin, Lucas, and Max, he goes out alone facing the demodogs, bat in hand, to draw them away from the children.
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The bathroom confession
Under truth serum, he tells Robin he loves her. She tells him the truth. The tenderest scene of season 3, and the birth of a duo.
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The Lover's Lake dive
He goes down to check the gate, he does not come back up. On the other side, the demobats are waiting.
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The classroom, 1987
The king of Hawkins High who comes back as a teacher. The loop is closed, and nobody laughs.
Another piece from the selection: a piece inspired by Steve Harrington.
In the shopLego Steve Harrington mini figure14,90 €See the product
Not to be confused
| People often say | In reality | The landmark |
|---|---|---|
| Steve dies in season 4 | He is badly bitten by the demobats but survives | He runs a radio in season 5 |
| Steve ends up with Nancy | No: Nancy and Jonathan break up, and Steve moves on with Kristen | The season 5 epilogue |
| Steve and Robin are a couple | Robin is a lesbian; they are best friends | The Starcourt confession, 1985 |
| Steve made the bat | Jonathan and Nancy prepared it for the trap | He picks it up, he does not build it |
A subtler confusion: Steve is not Dustin's “big brother” by chance. Season 2 is built so that the two loneliest characters in Hawkins, a dumped teenager and a fatherless kid, find each other. It is that duo, and not his story with Nancy, that made Steve a main character.
Our Steve Harrington products
Steve is one of the characters fans ask for most: Scoops Ahoy T-shirts, miniature bats, caps, and posters inspired by his seasons. We pick every piece ourselves, and claim nothing beyond our passion for the show.
To complete the reading: a piece inspired by Steve Harrington.
In the shopChibi 6 cm Steve Harrington and his bat keychain12,90 €See the product
Frequently asked questions
Who is Steve Harrington in Stranger Things?
Steve is the popular Hawkins High student who dates Nancy Wheeler in 1983 and who, against all expectation, becomes one of the heroes of the show. With no power and no plan, armed with a nail bat, he protects the group of kids in every season and forms with Dustin then Robin the most loved duos on the show.
Does Steve die in Stranger Things?
No. Steve survives the five seasons. He is badly bitten by the demobats in season 4 and comes close to death during the final battle of season 5, where Jonathan saves his life. The epilogue shows him as a baseball coach and a teacher at Hawkins High.
Do Steve and Nancy end up together?
No. Nancy leaves Steve for Jonathan in 1984. Their feelings come back in season 4, but season 5 cuts another way: Nancy and Jonathan part on good terms, and Steve, after settling his rivalry with Jonathan, moves on with a new girlfriend, Kristen.
Are Steve and Robin a couple?
No, and that is what makes their duo unique. In season 3, under truth serum, Steve tells Robin he loves her; she reveals she is a lesbian. He accepts it immediately, and they become best friends, coworkers at the video store, and partners in every investigation.
What is Steve's job in season 5?
In 1987, during the Hawkins quarantine, he hosts a pirate radio that links the survivors. After the end of the show, he becomes a baseball coach and sex-ed teacher at Hawkins High, the same place where he met the party.
Who plays Steve Harrington?
Joe Keery has played Steve since 2016. The character was meant to be only a secondary antagonist in season 1; audience response pushed the show to make him a main character from season 2. The images on this page come from the show and its promotion; they remain the property of their rights holders.