From The Upside Down To Riverdale, Barb Is Back…Kind Of

Surely Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer had no idea what they were in for when our beloved Barb Holland, played by Shannon Purser, disappeared. The internet wanted answers: Where the hell is Barb? we asked. By now most of us have come to accept that Barb was swallowed by the Upside Down. She is no more. However, Purser is back and slated to appear in the next episode of The CW's new series Riverdale. That's right, Stranger Things' breakout star appears in episode 3, "Body Double," as noted by Den Of Geek. Her character Ethel Muggs, will appear in this week's episode. "It’s a darker, moodier take on the Archie comics. I play Ethel Muggs. She’s a bit more sassy than Barb — and she survives more than three episodes, fortunately,” Purser teased in a December interview with The Guardian. Considering Stranger Things was Purser's first acting role, perhaps her character's early exit wasn't a bad thing. Purser also landed a role in Life of the Party with Melissa McCarthy, coming out in 2018. Then again, if the Duffer brothers could just find a way for us to get our fave nonconformist, '80s cult heroine back, we'd be cool with that, too.