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Stranger Things fans are well aware that one of the show's central relationships is between Hopper (David Harbour) and Joyce (Winona Ryder) - a slow-burn romance that has played out across the four seasons to date of the Netflix supernatural epic. But that doesn't mean that the character's younger incarnation is going to share the same inclinations when it comes to their affections.

Speaking at New York Comic Con 2025's Stranger Things: The First Shadow panel, actor Burke Swanson, who plays a young Jim Hopper, Jr. in the Broadway show, told the crowd that he knows they expect him to love Joyce - and he does: “Joyce, sure, sure, sure," the actor joked - but it turns out that his deepest joy lies with someone else. 

“My true love in the show is Alan Munson, Eddie’s father,” he revealed. “You get to see a true theater geek.” In the play, Munson becomes deeply invested in the play that Joyce puts on, going full-on method in rehearsals. Eric Wiegand plays the character on stage with big, silly energy.

“I fall in love with Eric every single night,” Swanson admits. “He plays it with such sincerity.” And Swanson—who came to the panel wearing a T-shirt for Eddie Munson’s heavy metal band Corroded Coffin—sees so much of Eddie in Wiegand’s portrayal. “That playfulness, that Dungeons and Dragons imagination is living so well on stage every night.”

Stranger Things: The First Shadow is currently playing at The Marquis Theatre in New York City.

Here's how to watch all the big panels from New York Comic Con 2025.