'Stranger Things': Sean Astin's Bob Will Be 'the Barb of Season 2'

Bob is the new Barb in "Stranger Things" Season 2.

It's still astonishing how popular Barb became after "Stranger Things" Season 1 -- actress Shannon Purser even got an Emmy nomination -- and The Powers That Be think new character Bob might "be a Barb level fan favorite."

Here's what "Stranger Things" producer/director Shawn Levy told ScreenRant at Comic-Con, when asked if any Barb-esque characters would win fans' hearts in Season 2":

"Yes. It's Sean Astin. Yeah. Sean Astin as Bob is going to be, I'm saying it, but he's kind of going to be the Barb of Season 2. His part is substantially bigger. He's in a lot of episodes. He is magnificent. And one thing the Duffers do really well is when they see what an actor is capable of, they write to that. They don't make the actor play what's on the page. They often change what's on the page to exploit everything that's unique about that actor. They did it with Steve Harrington last season and this season again and they did it big time with Sean Astin who as Bob I think is going to be a Barb level fan favorite."

Bob is the manager at Radioshack, dating Winona Ryder's distraught mother Joyce. There was a brief shot of him running like hell in the Comic-Con "Thriller" trailer. Yep, that's him in the blurry screen shot above.

The Duffer brothers, who created the show, emphasized that Bob is a very different character than Barb, and he has more lines than Barb, and they're not trying to create a new Barb, and they never even saw "the Barb phenomenon" coming, so maybe they're not the best judges of what will be next.

But still, the Duffers told ScreenRant:

"Sean Astin is, he's one of those guys that he wasn't initially how we were envisioning the role but, once he came on board and once we started seeing what he was doing with his character, he just changed the entire trajectory, really of some of the plot of the show and certainly of that character. He's an incredibly likable guy in real life and then also hopefully in the show. I love Bob. I think other people will too."

Maybe Sean Astin should expect to follow Season 1's Emmy nominations with his own nod next year.

Even if fans don't take to Bob, it's not like there aren't plenty of characters from Season 1 to love and follow, including Eggo-loving Eleven.

"Stranger Things" Season 2 premiers October 27 on Netflix.

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