--- title: Stranger Things: Cast Interview Barb Death Theory description: Stranger Things actress has a decisive explanation for Barb's death. canonical: https://time.com/4437552/stranger-things-barb-nicole/ author: Ashley Hoffman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-03T20:39:58.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:35:03.412Z og:title: Stranger Things: Actress Has a Scary Explaination for What Panpened to Barb og:description: Evidently there was already enough of a certain look og:url: https://time.com/4437552/stranger-things-barb-nicole/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1bd2d39c6e4df57d/6988a101cf40a8c87bc44536/barbs.jpg?branch=production&width=640&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 640 og:image:height: 360 og:image:alt: 1 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Stranger Things: Actress Has a Scary Explaination for What Panpened to Barb twitter:description: Evidently there was already enough of a certain look twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1bd2d39c6e4df57d/6988a101cf40a8c87bc44536/barbs.jpg?branch=production&width=640&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This _Stranger Things_ Actress Has a Severe Explanation for What Happened to Barb > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=bf51abac-c4e7-403e-8682-37667144be2c&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Aug 3, 2016 8:39 PM UTC  Stranger Things Stranger Things Curtis Baker/Netflix by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Aug 3, 2016 8:39 PM UTC **Warning:** _Stranger Things_ spoilers ahead. The actress who played Steve’s malicious friend on [_Stranger Things_](http://time.com/4426157/10-questions-stranger-things-still-needs-to-answer/) has [offered a theory](https://www.reddit.com/r/StrangerThings/comments/4v35iq/my%5Fname%5Fis%5Fglennellen%5Fanderson%5Fi%5Fplayed%5Fnicole%5Fin/) during a Reddit AMA about why fan favorite character Barb had to go. Barb met her untimely and not so important death early on. And why did she? Was it punishment for Nancy’s pool party fun? With the exception of Nancy, everyone on the show was tied up with the Agenda to Find Will So [Winona Ryder](http://time.com/4380330/winona-ryder-comeback-stranger-things-netflix/) Could Shower, but why couldn’t she be saved? Glenneallen Anderson, who starred as Nicole the mean girl who exposes Jonathan, has a decisive answer. --- > “” --- The facts may not support this notion. The [Duffer Brothers](http://variety.com/2016/tv/news/stranger-things-finale-duffer-brothers-interview-season-2-1201816664/) officially said they had to lose Barb because they explained, “we wanted it to feel unsafe.” But perhaps Anderson’s saltier response is more in keeping with the high school setting. At least Barb’s immortalized in [pizza form](https://www.instagram.com/vinniesbrooklyn/). \[[Reddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/StrangerThings/comments/4v35iq/my%5Fname%5Fis%5Fglennellen%5Fanderson%5Fi%5Fplayed%5Fnicole%5Fin/)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4437552/stranger-things-barb-nicole/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4437552/stranger-things-barb-nicole/"},"headline":"This Stranger Things Actress Has a Severe Explanation for What Happened to Barb","datePublished":"2016-08-03T20:39:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:35:03.412Z","description":"Poor Barb","url":"https://time.com/4437552/stranger-things-barb-nicole/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","Internet","Stranger Things"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1bd2d39c6e4df57d/6988a101cf40a8c87bc44536/barbs.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ashley Hoffman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1bd2d39c6e4df57d/6988a101cf40a8c87bc44536/barbs.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"1","caption":"1","creditText":"Curtis Baker/Netflix","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4437552/stranger-things-barb-nicole/","name":"This Stranger Things Actress Has a Severe Explanation for What Happened to Barb"}}]}] ```