Argyle Is Still Missed by 'Stranger Things' Fans After His Unofficial Exit

Season 4 of Stranger Things introduces a couple of new characters, but none is as important to fans as Argyle, played by Eduardo Franco. Eduardo, known for his long hair and silly characters, plays a pothead with a heart of gold who helps Jonathan Byers and the rest of the gang get back to Hawkins from California. But in Season 5, he is very noticeably absent. So, what happened to Argyle?

While it makes sense story-wise for Argyle to not be with the Hawkins group for the final season, given their quarantine in the small, Upside Down-riddled town, that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt for fans who fell for him hard in Season 4. In the penultimate season, Argyle provides some much-needed comic relief at times, and he's an outsider, sure, but in the best way. Without warning, however, he was apparently written off the show.

At some point between the end of the events of Season 4 and the beginning of Season 5, Argyle went home. At least, that's what viewers have assumed. No one attached to Stranger Things explicitly explained what happened to Argyle or why or when he left Hawkins. But Eduardo did admit that he simply wasn't asked to return for the fifth and final season.

When Eduardo appeared on the Steve Varley Show podcast in January 2024, he admitted that he had never heard from the Stranger Things creators or producers about coming back.

"It's nice to hear that there's some sort of concern or something, you know what I mean," he said, of fans' questions about his return as Argyle. "But I never got a phone call. So, I think that's it."

On a Reddit thread about Argyle's absence in the final season, some fans shared that, if Season 5 were to pick up right where Season 4 leaves off, it doesn't make sense. Fans now know that isn't the case, though. And, hey, maybe Argyle is the only character with the right idea of packing it in and getting the heck out of town amid literal monsters bending the fabric of reality to get out.

If Season 5 of Stranger Things picked up exactly where Season 4 leaves off, with plumes of smoke from the Upside Down invading the real world and Argyle looking for wild mushrooms by Hopper's cabin, there might be a place for the well-meaning burnout. But the top of the Season 5 premiere explains there has been a big time jump.

Season 5 starts about 18 months after the end of Season 4. Viewers see evidence of that in the strong military presence in Hawkins and the metal Band-Aid placed on the cracks in the ground throughout the town. There is also a fence that encircles the town and keeps the residents in, and ensures no one enters without military or delivery authorization.

As much as fans might want Argyle to still be part of the gang, it wouldn't make sense for the slacker to remain cooped up in Hawkins when he likely had every intention of driving back to California once he brought Jonathan and the others home. Still, it doesn't mean fans miss Argyle any less.