Why ‘Stranger Things’ Pushed Dacre Montgomery to Step Away From Acting

Stranger Things is not just a Netflix show. It is a cultural demolition derby where kids battle monsters, Winona Ryder resurrects her career, and nostalgia becomes a billion-dollar weapon. But the bikes and synth soundtracks hide something else too: unexpected consequences lurking beneath the neon glow. Dacre Montgomery, once just another face in Hawkins, found himself rewriting the very script of his career.

While Hawkins churned out monsters and nostalgia merch, Montgomery realized the real plot twist was off-screen, and he needed to map the story himself, on his own terms.

Dacre Montgomery and the Stranger Things fame that came with a hidden cost

Dacre Montgomery is finally saying it out loud: his Stranger Things fame came with a side of identity crisis. “I think with Stranger Things, as any big show on Netflix, it’s kind of like you lose your anonymity overnight,” he told PEOPLE. The sudden spotlight was both dazzling and overwhelming, like winning the lottery only to discover the grand prize is an endless supply of commercial roles. Fame arrived fast, expectations piled higher, and Montgomery had to navigate a world where teen heartthrob status and personal identity collided spectacularly.

“I grew up really wanting to work… on art house films and really explore how far I can push myself in terms of character development,” Dacre Montgomery explained. Translation: he did not dream of dying mullet-first in Hawkins, Indiana. Instead, he wanted scripts that feel like graduate theses. He chose a hiatus, treating his career like an Ikea cabinet, disassembled, reversed, and restructured until the screws finally matched the vision.

While Stranger Things only just announced its season 5 after years of suspense, Dacre Montgomery was already constructing a story that would not drag its feet but instead arrive with purpose and completely transform his life.

Dacre Montgomery and the Stranger Things irony that shaped his return

Dacre Montgomery admits it took nearly six years to find his way back to roles that felt authentic. He describes his indie project, Went Up the Hill, as the cinematic epiphany he had been waiting for. “… It changed my life,” he told PEOPLE, crediting the film with realigning his craft. In true Stranger Things irony, the story is about grief and connection, but for Montgomery, it became a resurrection of purpose.

Dacre Montgomery believes films matter most when they reach even a single soul in the right way. That belief is why he walked away from commercial gloss and leaned into cinematic philosophy, chasing stories that whisper instead of scream. Instead of Hawkins’ spectacle, he pursued raw intimacy, mapping characters through grief and silence. With Went Up the Hill, he reclaimed his narrative, proving that Billy’s ghost is not the only haunting he was destined to carry on screen.

What are your thoughts on Dacre Montgomery reverse-engineering his career after Stranger Things fame? Bold artistic move or missed mainstream momentum? Let us know in the comments below.