Stranger Things star Joseph Quinn just made his talk show debut — and almost didn’t make it.
The British actor appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon for the first time on Monday to reveal he was detained at immigration on his arrival in the US a day earlier.
Fortunately for Joseph, his Stranger Things character of Eddie Munson is universally adored — even by customs officials.
“I was taken into, I guess what you could call it, was more of a dungeon,” he told the host. “And I was asked to wait there for about 20 minutes and then I was summoned to this desk where someone asked me, ‘What are you doing in the United States, Sir?’”
While fans love Josephs portrayal of metalhead slacker Eddie Munson, the character was only introduced in the fourth season and may be hard to identify without his torn jeans and long trademark hair.
“Well I’m actually here to meet Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show,” Joseph said he replied. “And he didn’t believe me. And one of his colleagues looked over at me, looked at him, and said: ‘Leave Eddie alone.’”
The first agent, realising who he’d been interrogating, then asked Jospeh the one question Stranger Things fans have been clamouring for: “Do you come back next season?”
Joseph himself claimed to have no idea whether Eddie would return and said he told the agent as much. He was ultimately given a stern warning before having his passport returned: “You better.”
In his conversation with Jimmy, Joseph expounded further on the beauty of the Stranger Things fandom. He said he was moved by how strongly fans at Comic-Con identify with his character.
“I think it’s probably the fact that he’s an outsider, a little bit kind of on the fringes of society,” he said. “It’s so moving to see how much he means to people.”
Joseph read one of Munson’s monologues, switching accents from Scotland, Liverpool, Australia, New York City and Wales from one line to the next.
Jimmy reminded Joseph that his rendition of Metallica’s Master of Puppets during a vital Stranger Things scene landed the song on the US Billboard charts for the first time in decades. Joseph joked that he didn’t share any royalties, but did get a shoutout from his acting idol Jack Black.
The actor he has “worshipped” Black since School Of Rock was released in 2003. A heavy metal fan himself, Jack spoke on the red carpet for Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight about binge-watching Stranger Things with his son — and falling for Eddie Munson.
“It was pretty epic,” said Jack. “I was geeking out pretty hard. And then I was like, ‘Why did you kill the heavy metal guy? He was the best character!’”
