American actor and musician Joe Keery stole our hearts as the now-iconic Stranger Things character Steve Harrington. Though many fans already had a soft spot for the unlikable jock-turned-stressed out mother of four during the Netflix series’ first three instalments, it was season four that truly turned the actor into an internet sensation.

If, like most of us, you have been contributing to the incredibly high number of views on some of the most viral TikTok edits of Keery’s Stranger Things character, you must have also seen, more recently, some worrying clips claiming that the actor has died in a shooting.

While some videos alleged that the tragedy took place on 23 September 2022, others claimed it happened on 8 October. Is any of it actually true? We looked into it for you.

@marcluvr

season 2 steve has a grip on me #steveharrington #steveharringtonedit #strangerthings #strangerthingsedit #strangerthings4

♬ steve is hot - liv 🦇

Rumours of Keery’s alleged demise first gained traction on Facebook after a “R.I.P. Joe Keery” page attracted nearly one million likes. Those who read the account’s ‘about’ description were given a somewhat believable account of the 30-year-old’s passing.

@editingrabdomshii

RIP. #joekeery #strangerthings

♬ original sound - Edits

“At about 11 a.m. ET on Saturday (October 08, 2022), our beloved actor Joe Keery passed away,” the description read. “Joe Keery was born on April 24, 1992 in Newburyport. He will be missed but not forgotten. Please show your sympathy and condolences by commenting on and liking this page.”

As you can imagine, the news spread like wildfire—leading hundreds of fans to immediately start writing their messages of condolence on the Facebook page, expressing their sadness that the beloved actor and musician was dead. That was until Twitter got involved, of course.

While many Facebook users believed the initial post, the Twittersphere was immediately sceptical of the report, probably learning their lesson from the huge amount of fake death reports emerging about celebrities over recent months.

Some pointed out that the news had not been featured on any major American network, indicating that it was a fake claim, as the death of an actor of Keery’s stature would most definitely be seen as major news across publications.

Then, on Sunday 9 October, the actor’s reps officially confirmed that Keery has not passed away. “He joins the long list of celebrities who have been victimised by this hoax. He’s still alive and well, stop believing what you see on the internet,” they said.

As the internet continues to obsess over the newly-released volume two of Stranger Things’ season four—with edits of Joe Keery, who plays Steve Harrington in the show, garnering millions of views and likes—the Duffer brothers, aka the genius minds behind the series, have confirmed that there’s a few official spin-off ideas that are currently being planned.

@charlidameilo

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♬ original sound - charlidameilo

And that’s not even the only good news we’re here to bring you today—according to a recent David Harbour (who plays Chief Jim Hopper in Stranger Things) interview with British GQ, we might be blessed with a young version of his DILF character being played by none other than Euphoria’s Jacob Elordi.

Though the show is set to end with season five and details about those spin-offs have not been shared just yet, Harbour indulged his thoughts with the publication about where his character Hopper could hypothetically go next. And he went as far as to suggest Elordi as the actor who he’d like to see take on a young Hop. Same David, same.

Speaking about Hop and the many ways in which the Stranger Things universe could continue to explore his backstory, should he ever pop up again in a spin-off, Harbour said, “At this point, I think Hopper is a character that can exist independent of me.”

He continued, “If they wanna go back in time, forward in time… I’d love to see another actor play Hopper, and see what they can bring to it.”

The publication then noted that the actor later followed up with an email to add that he thinks Elordi could take on the role of young Hopper, joking, “He could pull off being as handsome as I was at 20.”