The popularity of Stranger Things went into the stratosphere during season 4. You couldn’t move without hearing Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill blasting out of cars and houses, and Hellfire Club shirts were everywhere. At the centre of much of the furore was Joseph Quinn’s heartthrob Eddie Munson, a new addition to the Stranger Things cast who set hearts and guitar strings a-flutter.
The tragedy though is that Munson’s time in Hawkins was short-lived, as he had a hero’s journey and dies in Stranger Things season 4. We have some good news, though, he’s back! And some bad news – not in the series. He’s back in a new graphic novel called Stranger Things: Flight of Icarus, which is a prequel set two years before the events of season 4.
The upcoming novel is from author Caitlin Schneiderhan, who’s currently serving in the show’s season 5 writers’ room. We also have some new details. Flight of Icarus, will be published on October 31, and is set in 1984.
According to the official plot description (via Entertainment Weekly), the story follows Eddie as he meets a record producer named Paige, who gives the Hellfire Club leader the chance to achieve his musical dreams with his band Corroded Coffin. He just needs money, which gets him entangled in his dad’s latest shady scheme.
“The Eddie Munson we meet at the beginning of Stranger Things 4 is the protective shepherd to the nerdy lost sheep of Hawkins High. But taking on that mantle wasn’t such a cut-and-dry decision,” Schneiderhan said in a statement to EW. “I’m so excited for fans to go with him on his journey towards becoming a hero, to experience the messy and uncomfortable decisions that led him to become the brave misfit we all know and love.”
While we wait for Stranger Things season 5, check out our guide to the best sci-fi series and find out where Stranger Things is filmed.