Which character is played by Sean Astin in "Stranger Things"?

Sean Astin plays Bob Newby in Stranger Things. Bob is introduced in the show’s second season as Joyce Byers’s kind-hearted boyfriend and a former schoolmate of Joyce and Jim Hopper.

Bob runs the Hawkins RadioShack and is characterized as friendly, optimistic, and unusually good at solving puzzles. His knowledge becomes important when he helps interpret Will Byers’s drawings of the underground tunnels spreading beneath Hawkins. Although the Byers family initially tries to protect him from the truth about the Upside Down, Bob ultimately becomes involved in the crisis.

Astin was already widely known for playing Mikey in The Goonies, Rudy Ruettiger in Rudy, and Samwise Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. His casting gave Bob an immediately recognizable presence, but the character is not a disguised version of any of those earlier roles.

Bob’s storyline is concentrated mainly in season two. He dies while helping others escape Hawkins Lab, but his memory continues to affect Joyce and the other characters afterward.