- Finn Wolfhard was just 13 when he first played Mike Wheeler
- He reflects on the mental toll fame took on him at young age
- Reveals one thing he’d do differently looking back
Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard has opened up about being catapulted to fame overnight with the success of the Netflix series. In an interview with People, he also revealed the one thing he’d do differently in hindsight during his early years in the spotlight.
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Wolfhard made his television debut with a guest appearance as Zoran in an episode of The 100 in 2014. He also portrayed Jordie Pinsky in an episode of Supernatural in 2015. However, it was the supernatural events of Hawkins that change his life forever.
The 22-year-old Mike Wheeler actor was just 13 when the streaming service debuted the first season of Stranger Things in 2016. In an instant he was turned into a household name alongside fellow cast members Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, and Noah Schnapp.
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Finn Wolfhard would seek therapy in hindsight
Looking back, Wolfhard told the publication if he could go back he’d find the tools to help him cope better with stardom. “I don’t think I’d ever go back and do something over, but maybe I would go back to when the show first came out and blew up, and I would directly put myself into therapy.”
“But it was so crazy and overnight, that there was not really any time to think about that.”
The Canadian actor also admitted that life as a teenager was a big learning curve and that he may have still made different mistakes. “I would end up probably making a mistake in a different way anyways,” he says. “I think childhood, and life in general, is about trial and error.”
Fame took a mental toll on the young actor
It’s not the first time Wolfhard has spoken candidly and alluded to struggling with the fame. In a 2023 interview with GQ Magazine, he spoke about the mental toll it took on him, but admitted he “did not talk about anything because I just was having this crazy whirlwind career, so there was no time, or at least we didn’t feel [there was] at the time.”
He also noted that while it may have looked like he was on top of the world, the reality couldn’t have been more different. “Everyone was like, ‘Look at him, he’s fine. He’s having the best time,’’ he recalled.
“But in reality, I was probably also developing, and things were happening in my brain, and anxieties were forming and things that I didn’t realize that I had to bury because of how I had to feel at work.”
After nearly a decade of playing Mike Wheeler, Wolfhard will now be gearing up for the release of the fifth and final Stranger Things season. It is due for release on Netflix time this year and co-creator Ross Duffer has called it a “satisfying conclusion.“
