Cara Buono couldn’t help but take her young Stranger Things costars under her wing back in the day — and she’s proud to witness how much they’ve accomplished since.
“I love thinking I’m the defacto mom. They’re so grown now, probably nobody wants to hear any advice from me like a typical mom,” Buono, 54, exclusively told Us Weekly about the dynamic with her Stranger Things costars. “But I love all of the kids and I love watching them grow up.”
Buono — who’s new film Things Like This hits theaters on Friday, May 16 — acknowledged that during the Stranger Things stars’ adolescent years, they were typical kids who often didn’t “really listen to their moms,” so she wasn’t afraid to step in when needed.
Stranger Things premiered in 2016 and launched the careers of Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Noah Schnapp and more. Season 4 premiered in 2022 and the long-awaited final fifth season is expected to drop this year. Buono portrays Karen Wheeler, mom to Mike (Wolfhard) and Nancy (Natalia Dyer) Wheeler.
Not all of Buono’s time on the show hasn’t entirely revolved around adolescents. One of Karen’s major arcs came during season 3 of the series, when she and Billy Hargrove (Dacre Montgomery) form a mutual attraction. The story line was a slightly controversial one — Billy was still in high school at the time — but Karen ultimately chooses to turn down the affair.
Buono, for her part, confessed she was surprised by the story line given the massive age gap between the characters.
“It was almost like it was a little sort of detour from the show because just sort of the topics that was bringing up about an older woman and a younger man and a flirtation and maybe having an affair,” she recalled. “It seems apart from the Stranger Things world, but they approach it with humor. I think they also infuse it with emotionality like they do [when] Karen decided she can’t leave because of her family.”
Through all her character’s ups and downs, Buono has never stopped loving the role of Karen — and remains surprised and delighted by how prevalent Stranger Things has become in the pop culture zeitgeist.
“I always knew it was a special project when I read the first script, but I was definitely surprised by what a phenomenon it became,” she reflected. “And I’m just really proud of the stories we’ve told and the connections we’ve made with audiences worldwide. That’s a very rare thing to happen today with shows.”
She continued, ““It’s just been a rare and really beautiful experience to be part of something that’s resonated with people across generations that really doesn’t happen. I just really love playing Karen.”
While the flagship series will be saying goodbye to fans soon, the word of the Upside Down continues to grow. The beloved franchise just recently launched the stage play Stranger Things: The First Shadow, which serves as a prequel to the original series. Buono recently reunited with the rest of the cast to celebrate the new production.
“It was so fun. It was the first time I’d seen a bunch of folks and it was a really great night,” she recalled to Us. “The show was epic and wonderful, scary, and the last time [the cast] saw each other, we were ending the show. So a lot of tears and a few months have passed now. So it’s definitely a sense of moving on in that bittersweet way.”
Buono noted that she particularly loved getting to see the “high school” version of her character on stage. “It’s just been really surreal walking onto the set and away from the set, and I’m just really grateful for every second of it,” she added.
With the end of Stranger Things on the horizon, Buono is now taking a step away from the supernatural horror and flexing her comedic muscles in Things Like This. The rom-com, which stars Joey Pollari and Max Talisman, follows two men who share the same name as they fall in love. Buono, for her part, plays Margie.
“I think it’s just a great love story. I think it’s totally relatable, even though it happens to be about two men,” she told Us. “The emotions are really universal, and that’s what I really loved about it. It’s not trying to make a point about being queer, it’s just telling this beautiful, honest story about falling in love and I think the more we see that on screen, the more normal and celebrated it becomes.”
Buono stressed that authentic “representation matters,” and queer love stories belong in the romantic genre space.
“It’s about connection. Almost misconnections, but then a connection,” she told Us. “I hope that people will just see that it’s really special, and that it’s a love story that is not focusing on disclaimers or stereotypes, just something really real and funny and hopeful for people who are looking for love in their life.”
Things Like This premieres in theaters on Friday, May 16.
