Finn Wolfhard readies second album after Stranger Things
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- Finn Wolfhard was 13 when Stranger Things debuted in 2016; the show concluded last year after about a decade because twentysomethings could no longer pass as high schoolers, and Wolfhard says ending "feels absolutely right" even though it was "pretty depressing for everyone."
- "Fire From the Hip" — Wolfhard's second solo album, about to be released — caps a music career that began before acting: his mother bought him his first guitar at age four, and he previously fronted Canadian bands Calpurnia and the Aubreys.
- Stranger Things co-stars have each navigated post-show turbulence: Millie Bobby Brown publicly shamed journalists on Instagram for commenting on her appearance, while Noah Schnapp faced backlash for pro-Israel comments requiring clarification — Wolfhard himself avoids political commentary.
- Wolfhard carries nearly 25 million Instagram followers and contrasts his own pre-internet Vancouver childhood of cycling and board games with today's Gen Alpha, who he says "all kind of do have public personas" from birth.
- Wolfhard initially felt "lost" after the show's end, describing the transition as a "kind of withdrawal," but says the friendships persist — including a final-season stretch in Atlanta where he shared a house with co-star Gaten Matarazzo.
- Wolfhard's solo music is characterized as tuneful rock in a "Beatlesy, 90s indie vein" with deliberately lo-fi production and recording on physical tape — which he frames as the same "phantom nostalgia" for a pre-internet era that powered Stranger Things.
Why it matters: Wolfhard's pivot from Hawkins to analog-tape-recorded indie rock on "Fire From the Hip" is the clearest test yet of whether a Stranger Things star can build a solo creative identity beyond the show, and his nearly 25 million Instagram followers give him unusual leverage to try. His candid admission of post-show "withdrawal" shows the transition is emotionally messy even for a cultural beneficiary who already had two bands and a Ghostbusters credit before the credits rolled.
