Expert explains why Stranger Things actors playing the wrong age is so creepy as viewers complain

An expert has explained why the Stranger Things cast all playing the wrong age in the show is so unsettling, with viewers continuing to complain about that aspect of the show.

Stranger Things season five is finally out after three years of anticipation, but the time it has taken to produce the new series has meant that the actors behind the show are playing characters much younger than them.

Whilst the TV show has jumped forward roughly a year and a half in the first episode of season five, the issue remains that the celeb faces on screen are far older than the characters they are supposed to play.

Millie Bobbie Brown, who is 21 in real life, plays a 16-year-old El in the show. Caleb McLaughin has one of the biggest gaps on the show, playing a 17-year-old at 24 in real life.

This extends to what were once the older teenage characters, with Joe Keery playing a 20-year-old Steve Harrington despite being 33 in real life.

Joe Keery is a good decade older than the character he is playing (Netflix)

An expert has already spoken about why de-aging characters freaks people out, but actors playing characters far younger than their real age has the same effect.

One fan tweeted: “Everyone looks 40 on Stranger Things. I don’t know how they expected this to work.”

Another pointed out the new actor for Holly Wheeler, saying: “Holly in stranger things 5 is distractingly too old for the age she’s supposed to be playing and it’s BUGGING THE CRAP out of me.”

Danielle Haig, a business psychologist, spoke exclusively to LADbible where she explained why fans find it so creepy when actors aren’t played by actors that are the right age.

She said: “When adults keep playing children or teenagers, there are a few psychological things happening.

“First, our brains are always checking, ‘does this fit reality?’ If a character is meant to be 15 but our brain reads late 20s,” there’s a constant, low-level cognitive dissonance.

“We have to then work harder to suspend disbelief, and that extra effort can show up as irritation or a sense that something feels 'off,' even if we can’t put our finger on it.”

She went on to add that ‘age carries a lot of meaning’, saying: “We associate adolescence with vulnerability, naivety and rapid development.

“When those experiences are portrayed by people we know are fully-fledged adults, some viewers feel that it trivialises real teenage struggles, especially around topics like bullying, mental health or sexuality.

“It can feel like adults ‘playing at’ adolescence rather than truly inhabiting it.”

Many of the actors are adults still playing children (Netflix)

The show’s first season, which is widely considered to be the best, had actual kids playing the roles, which likely played a role in why it simply felt better to watch than the later seasons.

Dr Haig went on to say that there is actually a deeper reason it unsettles us too, saying: “There’s also an element of grief and nostalgia. Audiences who have grown up with a cast can feel confronted by the fact that the actors are clearly older while the story tries to hold them in a younger time.

“It quietly reminds us that we’re ageing too, even as the fictional world tries to stay frozen. That tension between a story stuck in time and bodies that obviously aren’t, can be emotionally uncomfortable.”

The Duffer Brothers have claimed that the aging is 'not as dramatic as people think', saying: "But my point is, nobody’s ever noticed it. As they get older, it’s less of a dramatic jump."

Stranger Things season five volume one is available to stream now.