There's Actually a Silver Lining to That Bob Situation on Stranger Things

When it comes to the second season of Stranger Things, we're no longer concerned about justice for Barb. Now, it's all about newcomer Bob Newby, played by living legend Sean Astin. If you've finished the season, you'll know that Bob suffers a heartbreaking death thanks to a surprise demodog attack in the penultimate episode of the season. And, well, after spending so much time with him and seeing how happy he makes Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder), it's a tough pill to swallow. Even so, we have a piece of information that might bring you a bit of solace.

In a new interview with Vulture, cocreator Matt Duffer admitted that he and his brother Ross had a hard time killing Bob. In fact, they ditched their original plans and delayed the inevitable as long as they could.

"He was going to die around [episode] four," Duffer revealed. "We just kept delaying it because we started to really like the character, and he started to become more important to the plot. We just kept pushing his death further downfield until we got to the point where it was going to happen in episode eight."

Though the death was inevitable, the creators still had a hard time putting pen to paper. "I had a bit of a breakdown," Matt Duffer said. "It felt really nasty to write. It just really hurt, and I was like, 'This doesn't feel right, I don't want to lose this character, I don't want to lose Sean.'" It seems that, though Astin was able to delay his fate for a whopping four episodes, some things just can't be changed.

And even then, even when the brothers pushed the event back and struggled to get through a draft of the script, they still had to face the wrath of one person: Winona Ryder. "The most texts I've ever gotten from Winona was when she read the script for episode eight where Bob dies," Ross Duffer admitted. "It was like, 'You're monsters!' She was not thrilled." The good news is, we'll always be able to revisit Bob in season two. And though we won't see him as we move into season three, we'll forever hold him in our hearts.