Stranger Things rushes into its last season, crackling a whiff of nostalgia in the air while the world waits for the final trip back to Hawkins. In the middle of that anticipation, Winona Ryder returns as Joyce Byers, who has become an emotional cornerstone for the series. Long before and beyond becoming the icon of the sci-fi epic, Ryder was already reckoned as a cultural constellation. However, transitioning from being the late '80s and early '90s 'It Girl' to stepping into the Upside Down streaming era was not a smooth sail.

Winona Ryder had to go through a significant transition from being such a huge star to a unique role in the strange and unknown universe of Hawkins. And her co-star, Ross Partridge, was there to witness it all.

Winona Ryder, who dominated Hollywood with horror classics like Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, Bram Stoker's Dracula, and more in the 90s, captured the hearts of a new generation with Netflix's Stranger Things. However, the change was not easy. Speaking to Netflix Junkie, Ross Partridge, who portrayed Lonnie Byers in the first season, revealed that it was indeed "hard" for Ryder to step into a new world, shouldering responsibilities, with people she did not really know, or had never worked with before.

Despite boasting a lucrative filmography, Ryder questioned her choice, as Partridge told us, "they're not the easiest things to explain on paper." Partridge stressed the fact that they had been holding out hope for Stranger Things to "turn out really well," as uncertainty and apprehension consumed them while signing on to the project. However, all was well as it ended well for them, especially as Partidge ascertained that Lonnie Byers’s storyline seamlessly dissolved into the mix, adding gravitas to the kids’ journey. But for Ryder, who once defined what it meant to be cool and complex, Netflix still felt stranger than the Upside Down.

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A star of Winona Ryder's magnitude likes to start questioning the basics before registering for chaos, though the good kind. 

Casting Winona Ryder in Stranger Things turned out to be a huge success; however, little did she know about the world she was about to step into. Stranger Things director and executive producer Shawn Levy revealed on the Happy Sad Confused podcast that the first question Ryder asked him about the show was, "What is Netflix? What is streaming? Is it like TV but different?" While her unconventional questions focused a little too hard on the basics, such as the trending form of storytelling, "Netflix and streaming," she ended up becoming a series regular.

Winona Ryder's career not only found a new life with the Netflix show, but a ginormous fan following, and an entire new generation got exposed to her phenomenal filmography. Meanwhile, as Stranger Things wraps up for one last time, it promises to be “epic in its cinematic scope," per Levy. And for Ryder, it marks the end of her biggest career comeback, though, opening doors for more exciting projects to come.

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