Vickie (Stranger Things): the girl from the band, Robin, and what season 5 made of her
Character · The band · Seasons 4 and 5
Vickie is the Hawkins High marching-band girl Robin does not dare approach, and the only Stranger Things character introduced solely to be loved. She appears in spring 1986 as Robin's talkative crush, becomes her girlfriend in season 5, discovers the Upside Down through the worst of doors, and vanishes from the epilogue on a line fans still discuss. This page brings together everything: the band, the shelter, the couple, the quarantine, and the ending.
The essentials
- Name: Vickie Dunne, student at Hawkins High
- Role: band member, crush then girlfriend of Robin
- First appearance: season 4 (spring 1986)
- Distinctive sign: talks as fast and as long as Robin
- Ties: Robin Buckley, and through her Steve, Lucas, Max
- Played by: Amybeth McNulty
- Status: alive; absent from the 1989 epilogue
Contents
Played by
Amybeth McNulty
It is Amybeth McNulty who lends her face to Vickie on the show.
Image: Stranger Things series, via i2-prod.mirror.co.uk.
Who is Vickie?
Vickie plays in the Hawkins High band, the same one where Robin blows her trumpet. Season 4 first presents her through Robin's eyes: a funny, fast girl who returns the same kind of movies as everyone else at the video store, and about whom Robin has theories. Robin's problem is simple: Vickie has a boyfriend, and Hawkins in 1986 is not a town where you come out.
Vickie has almost no scenes in season 4, and they are enough. The last one, at the disaster shelter after the quake, is one of the gentlest on the show: Robin and she find themselves serving meals, discover they both talk too much, too fast, and that the boyfriend is no longer in the picture. Nothing is said. Everything is understood.
Season 5 picks up a year later, and Vickie is now Robin's girlfriend. That is where the show gives her a real role: that of the normal person, kept outside the secret, whom Robin has been promising a real date for weeks, and who is going to discover the truth all at once.
The shelter conversationAfter the 1986 quake, the high school is used as a shelter. Robin, handing out meals, runs into Vickie. The two stack sentences without breathing, cut each other off, apologize for talking too much, and realize they have the same flaw. Vickie lets slip that her relationship is over. Robin smiles. For a character with only a few minutes of screen time, it is a peak of the season.
In the shop: a piece from the show's universe that goes with this file, chosen by us.
In the shopMen's Hawkins High School Go Tigers T-shirt39,90 €See the product
Vickie season by season
Spring 1986Robin's crush
Robin talks about her to Steve before the viewer even sees her: Vickie, the girl from the band, the one who rents the same tapes as her. Steve, for once, listens. Robin does not dare approach her: she thinks Vickie is straight, she knows she has a boyfriend, and she knows what Hawkins does to girls like her.
Spring 1986The shelter
After the gates open and the earthquake, the town takes refuge at the high school. Vickie and Robin cross paths there, serve meals side by side, and finally talk. The conversation, chaotic, tender, never names it. Vickie says her relationship is over. Season 4 ends on that door left ajar.
Fall 1987The couple under quarantine
Hawkins is locked down by the army. Vickie and Robin are together, but Robin hides everything from her: the gates, Vecna, the group. She promises a real date, puts it off, lies badly. Vickie, who is no fool, worries about her and takes the lies for something other than what they are.
November 1987The truth
Robin finally tells her everything. Vickie does not believe her, thinks she needs help, and even goes looking for help from the forces occupying the town. It takes creatures from the Upside Down attacking Hawkins hospital, in front of her, for her to understand that Robin was telling the truth. She then joins the group and helps Max, out of her coma, get back on her feet.
November 1987The battle and the army
With Robin and Lucas, Vickie protects Max from the demodogs during the final assault. In the end, she and Max are intercepted by the military, then released: without Eleven, the army has nothing more to get from them. It is the last time the show shows her.
1989The epilogue without her
Eighteen months later, Robin is very much present at the epilogue, and Vickie is not. When Steve toasts what will never separate them, Robin adds: “including the invasive partners”. The show does not say whether they are still together. Fans have read the line as a breakup, others as a tease. This page does not decide: the show does not either.
What defines her
Vickie talks like Robin: too much, too fast, apologizing. It is the first thing the show shows of her, and the reason Robin loves her.
She is the only one in the party who knows nothing. Her reaction to the truth is anyone's: worry, then disbelief.
Once convinced, she does not back down. She watches over Max, and she holds against the demodogs.
Her greatest role may be not being there in 1989. The show leaves it to viewers to imagine why.
Vickie and Robin
The Robin-Vickie couple is one of the rare ones on the show to be built off-screen. Season 4 sets the look, season 5 arrives with the couple already formed, and it is Robin's lies that create the conflict, not the relationship itself. Vickie is never the obstacle: the obstacle is the secret.
That writing choice is consistent with Robin, who spent three seasons saying what she felt only in extreme moments: drugged in a Soviet interrogation room, on the restroom floor at Starcourt. With Vickie, she finally has someone to protect, and she does it the way she knows how: by talking a lot and saying nothing.
For a fan, the relationship also matters for what it says about Hawkins. In 1986, Robin could not approach Vickie. In 1987, they hold hands in a town occupied by the army. The show does not make a speech of it. It shows it, then it moves on, as it does for every other couple.
Key moments
-
The description
Robin describes Vickie to Steve before we see her: the band, the tapes, the boyfriend. Steve understands before she does.
-
The trays
Two aprons, two impossible rushes, and a line slipped between two apologies: the relationship is over.
-
The promised date
Robin promises, puts it off, promises again. Vickie waits, and starts to worry for the wrong reasons.
-
The hospital
The creatures come in. Vickie understands in one second what Robin has been trying to tell her for weeks.
-
The toast
1989. Robin adds six words to Steve's toast, and Vickie is not there to hear them.
Another piece from the selection: a piece inspired by Vickie.
In the shopLego Robin Buckley mini figure14,90 €See the product
Their ties
| Person | What he or she is to Vickie | The key moment |
|---|---|---|
| Robin Buckley | Her girlfriend, who lies to her to protect her | The shelter; the truth in 1987 |
| Max Mayfield | The one she helps come back to life | The hospital, then the demodogs |
| Lucas Sinclair | His teammate in Max's defense | The final assault |
| Steve Harrington | Robin's confidant, witness to the crush | The 1989 toast |
Not to be confused
| People often say | In reality | The landmark |
|---|---|---|
| Vickie appears in season 3 | She arrives in spring 1986, in season 4 | Robin still works at Scoops Ahoy in 1985 |
| Vickie and Robin get together on screen | The couple already exists at the start of season 5 | The promised date |
| Vickie dies in season 5 | She survives; she is simply absent from the epilogue | The interception by the army |
| Vickie has known everything from the start | Robin hides everything from her until the middle of season 5 | The hospital attack |
Our Vickie and Robin products
The band duo has its fans: T-shirts and posters inspired by Robin, Vickie, and season 5. 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 oversized sweatshirt81,90 €See the product
Frequently asked questions
Who is Vickie in Stranger Things?
Vickie Dunne is a student at Hawkins High, a member of the band, whom Robin falls in love with in spring 1986. She has few scenes in season 4, including the shelter conversation, and becomes Robin's girlfriend in season 5.
Are Vickie and Robin a couple?
Yes, from season 5 on: the show finds them together in 1987, Robin hiding everything about the Upside Down from her. The 1989 epilogue shows Robin without Vickie, with a line about “clingy partners” that fans read differently. The show does not decide.
What does Vickie do in season 5?
Robin hides the truth from her, then confesses it. Vickie does not believe her until creatures attack Hawkins hospital. She then joins the group, helps Max recover from her coma, protects her from the demodogs with Robin and Lucas, and ends up intercepted then released by the army.
Does Vickie appear in the epilogue?
No. Eighteen months later, Robin is present at the final toast, but not Vickie. Robin adds to Steve's toast a line about clingy partners, which some read as a breakup and others as a joke about a relationship still going.
Who plays Vickie?
Amybeth McNulty plays Vickie in seasons 4 and 5. The images on this page come from the show and its promotion; they remain the property of their rights holders.