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Look, all I'm saying is, maybe I'm not the asshole, all right?
~ Lonnie Byers in S1E2 "The Weirdo on the Maple Street".

Lonnie Byers is a minor antagonist in the Netflix original series Stranger Things.

He is Joyce Byers' ex-husband, as well as the estranged and neglectful father of their two sons, Jonathan and Will.

He is portrayed by Ross Partridge. In the stage play, he was portrayed by Chase Brown.

Biography[]

Background[]

Born and raised in Hawkins, Indiana, Lonnie married Joyce sometime before 1966, the year they had their oldest son Jonathan, followed by Will in 1971. Lonnie was an implied alcoholic and drug addict who was abusive to his family; he forced his son Jonathan, who was 10 at the time, to shoot a rabbit, while using homophobic slurs against his other son Will. Joyce divorced Lonnie sometime before 1982, when they lost contact and he moved to Indianapolis, Indiana that same year, maintaining little interest in seeing his children. He also began dating his current girlfriend, Cynthia as a punishment for Jonathan and Will for being naughty.

Stranger Things[]

In November 1983, Will, now 12, was abducted by The Monster and taken to the Upside Down. In the first episode, "The Vanishing of Will Byers", Joyce had attempted to call Lonnie to inform him that their son is now missing, only to be answered by his much younger girlfriend Cynthia who rudely hung up on her. It was said the police there later questioned Lonnie.

The next day, in the second episode "The Weirdo on Maple Street" Jonathan skipped school to drive to Indianapolis, and entered the run down home of Lonnie and Cynthia. Thinking he was an intruder, Lonnie pushed Jonathan against a wall, before introducing him to Cynthia. While showing Jonathan around to show him that Will's not there, Lonnie claims that he wants to see his sons and tells Jonathan that he sounds like Joyce when it comes to calling Lonnie the bad guy. Jonathan gives his father a missing poster before leaving.

When Martin Brenner and the Hawkins National Laboratory faked Will's death by producing a fake body, and making it look like he had fallen into the quarry and was killed, Lonnie came to Hawkins for the funeral in episode 5, "The Flea and the Acrobat". He tried convincing Joyce to get psychiatric help, and told Jonathan that his mother is sick. Pretending to be in mourning, Joyce later found in Lonnie's wallet a flyer for a lawsuit for accidental death or injury, realizing that Lonnie was only there to sue the quarry's company to get money. An enraged Joyce confronted Lonnie about this, who lied they could use the money to pay for Jonathan's school (Even though it was actually for William's funeral), but he didn't know which school he's always wanted to go to. Joyce yelled at Lonnie to leave, before he blamed Joyce for what happened and told her:"What am I supposed to think?! Are you such a great mother? You are a mess!" Lonnie eventually left, and it's unknown what happened to him afterwards, as he has not been seen or mentioned since then.

Personality[]

Lonnie is an outright despicable man, nothing short of a sleaze. He's a drunkard, uncouth and a complete slob. He's extremely selfish, egotistical and is virtually devoid of redeeming qualities. He has no respect for his ex-wife Joyce, and has no love at all for his sensitive second son Will, viewing him as weak and a waste. He's quite aware of how much his family hates him and is more than willing to spite them. After their divorce, Lonnie made no effort to keep in touch with his children, worrying more about his current relationships than his own family.

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • Lonnie was originally planned to have a redemption of sorts, he was going to be the one who would show up at the Byers residence during the demogorgan fight , and would help Jonathan and Nancy , but that idea was scrapped for unknown reasons and the redemption went to Steve Harrington .
  • In "The Flea and the Acrobat", Lonnie seals the broken wall of the Byers house. This inadvertently blocks the portal of the house, preventing Will from escaping the Upside Down, an alternate dimension. It is unknown if he was either aware of the portal and boarded it up to make sure his family suffers further, or simply doesn't understand the concept of a portal.
  • Due to him being estranged from his family after the events of the first season, it's unknown if Lonnie is aware that Will is still alive.

Navigation[]

           StrangerThingsTitle Villains

Upside Down
Mind Flayer | Demogorgons (Hawkins Demogorgon, D'Artagnan & Russian Demogorgon) | Demobats | Vecna

Hawkins National Laboratory
Martin Brenner | Connie Frazier | One | Two | Three, Four and Five | Ray Carroll

Hawkins High Tigers
Jason Carver | Andy

Hargrove Family
Billy Hargrove | Neil Hargrove

Soviet Union
Grigori | General Stepanov | Colonel Ozerov | Dr. Zharkov | Warden Melnikov | Yuri Ismaylov | Russian Demogorgon | Dr. Karine

Others
Troy Walsh | Lonnie Byers | Larry Kline | Lt. Colonel Sullivan | Virginia Creel