Stranger Things season 4 will slightly shake-up the show's cast, with recurring character Murray Bauman – the reclusive investigator-turned-conspiracy theorist – set to have a bigger role to play in the hit Netflix series.
Deadline reports that actor Brett Gelman, who plays Bauman and is perhaps best known as the self-proclaimed “douche” Martin in Fleabag, has been upgraded to series regular.
The character, who has a knack for trying to speed along the will they/won’t they romances of both Joyce and Hopper, as well as Jonathan and Nancy, previously operated on the fringes of the show as one of the most consistently entertaining characters.
While it’s not clear yet what that means for the plot of season 4 – we still don’t have anything even resembling a trailer to clue us in on that just yet – Bauman has incessantly involved himself in all-things Russia, even being able to speak the language. With Hopper currently located somewhere in that region, he could serve as a means to help ‘The American’ and those looking to get him home.
Gelman was also spotted in the Stranger Things season 4 table read video, which featured confirmation of all of the major characters returning that will be dotted around everywhere from Indiana to Eastern Europe. Gelman’s presence there, as well as news of him becoming series regular, indicates that, at the very least, he’ll remain a steadfast member of the Stranger Things family moving forward.
