--- title: Stranger Things: Watch Jean Ralphio Say He's Steve's Father description: A Stranger Things Park & Recreation fan theory may just have been confirmed canonical: https://time.com/4466097/stranger-things-jean-ralphio-steve-james-corden/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-25T16:20:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:35:51.362Z og:title: Is Stranger Things’ Steve Jean-Ralphio’s Father? og:description: A Stranger Things Park & Recreation fan theory may just have been confirmed og:url: https://time.com/4466097/stranger-things-jean-ralphio-steve-james-corden/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Is Stranger Things’ Steve Jean-Ralphio’s Father? twitter:description: A Stranger Things Park & Recreation fan theory may just have been confirmed twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Watch Jean-Ralphio Address His Relationship to Steve From _Stranger Things_ by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Aug 25, 2016 4:20 PM UTC by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Aug 25, 2016 4:20 PM UTC There are a lot of fans who fall into the Venn Diagram crossover between Netflix hit [_Stranger Things_](http://time.com/4426157/10-questions-stranger-things-still-needs-to-answer/) and beloved sitcom _Parks and Recreation_ and those fans have one burning question on their minds—are Steve Harrington and Jean-Ralphio related? They both live in Indiana, they both have a love of high hair, and they bear a certain resemblance to each other. Because [_Stranger Things_](http://time.com/4436008/stranger-things-netflix-references/) is set in the 1980s, the timeline narrows the question to this: Is Steve Jean-Ralphio’s dad? _Parks & Recs_ fans know that on the show, Henry Winkler plays Jean-Ralphio’s father, but perhaps his overwhelming love of his son stems from some unresolved issues involving paternity? On the _Late Late Show with James Corden_ er…make that _Strangerer Things with Ben Schwartz_, Jean-Ralphio actor Ben Schwartz gave the world a few answers to some lingering questions about the tenuous connection and gave hope for _Stranger Things_ to come. “I’m assuming there’s a 100% chance of me being on _Stranger Things_ seasons two through 100,” Schwartz said, but he won’t spoil the end of it except to say that Jean-Ralphio clearly runs the Upside-Down and you’ll never look at Eggo Waffles the same way again. > [](https://twitter.com/KenTremendous/status/768549486566207488) \[H/T [Entertainment Weekly](http://www.ew.com/article/2016/08/24/stranger-things-steve-nancy-jean-ralphio-ben-schwartz)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4466097/stranger-things-jean-ralphio-steve-james-corden/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4466097/stranger-things-jean-ralphio-steve-james-corden/"},"headline":"Watch Jean-Ralphio Address His Relationship to Steve From Stranger Things","datePublished":"2016-08-25T16:20:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:35:51.362Z","description":"A Stranger Things fan theory confirmed","url":"https://time.com/4466097/stranger-things-jean-ralphio-steve-james-corden/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","Netflix","Late late show","james corden","Stranger Things"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"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/4466097/stranger-things-jean-ralphio-steve-james-corden/","name":"Watch Jean-Ralphio Address His Relationship to Steve From Stranger Things"}}]}] ```