Curious where Mike (Finn Wolfhard) and Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) were going to take that smooch-y, misty-eyed friendship in the next season of Stranger Things? Wonder no more. Shawn Levy, the show's producer, revealed at a Paleyfest discussion about the show this week that season three of the show would see Mike and Eleven in a fully-fledged middle school relationship. Levy also revealed that Mad Max (Sadie Sink) and Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) would be a couple. What does a "fully fledged middle school relationship" look like? Well, according to Levy, it's certainly not stable. (These kiddos are, well, kiddos, after all.)
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"Mike and Eleven are going strong, so that's a relationship that continues, and same with Mad Max and Lucas. But Again, they're like 13 or 14-year-old kids, so what does romance mean at that stage of life? It can never be simple and stable relationships and there's fun to that instability," Levy teased, as per The Hollywood Reporter. Brown, who attended the panel, discovered at the event that her character would be in a relationship. (She has, apparently, not laid eyes on a script yet.)
In the same panel interview, the producer revealed that Steve Harrington (Joe Keery) would keep up the dad duties that served him so well in season two. Season three begins shooting at the end of March.
If Mike and Eleven are going to be a couple — something fans are dying to see — then the next question is: How are they going to break up? Everything about Levy's answer suggests that the middle schoolers aren't exactly prepped for a long term relationship. (Honestly, who is?) So, they'll split, and they'll do it quickly. Most TV couples, especially on dramas, don't last longer than two episodes. In early March, E! reported that Uma Thurman's daughter Maya Hawke would be joining the cast. Perhaps, in a cruel turn, a new girl in town causes Mike's affection to wander. Or, if the show wants to be realistic, Eleven will simply become too cool and too popular for clammy ole Mike. Plus, isn't it time Eleven earned some female friends?
On top of that, the fact that Mike and Eleven will be dating feels like the beginning of a slippery slope — is Stranger Things going to become a soapy teen drama? What happens to the Upside Down and the magical elements of the show when the main storyline involves middle schoolers in relationships?