One of the new characters being introduced in
Stranger Things Season 3 is Mayor Larry Kline. It's the first time we've seen the mayor of Hawkins, which is a bit odd considering all of the weird stuff that's gone down there these past few seasons.
Ahead of the season premiere, actor Cary Elwes sat down with The Wrap to share a few details about his "smarmy" new character, who might draw some comparisons to Donald Trump.
“It’s the first time we’re meeting the mayor of Hawkins and it turns out he’s a rather self-centered individual,” Elwes described.
“And he’s one of these politicians that seems to be very full of himself and not always honest, and a little bit demeaning of others, perhaps. Like I said, he’s a bit smarmy.”
Other than brief clues from the trailers, not much is known about Mayor Kline's role in the upcoming season. Elwes claimed to not "know anything" regarding suspicions that the character may be evil. He only pointed out that Mayor Kline is obsessed with planning a giant Fourth of July tribute to the United States — a plot point that led him to believe the character is
based on Donald Trump.
“They go, ‘No, no, no, it’s not Trump, it’s just somebody that happens to be blonde and full of himself and likes the sound of his own voice,'” Elwes added.
“Turns out [the Duffer Brothers] wrote that he takes over the Fourth of July celebrations — this is long before the president decided to do that — but this character, in this season, decides to take over the Fourth of July celebrations for himself because he thinks he can run it better than anybody else. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?”
For those unfamiliar with American politics, the President has been moving ahead with
plans to shake up the annual July 4th celebration in Washington D.C.
Beyond the similarities to Trump, Elwes was askeda bout the mayor's connection to the new Starcourt shopping mall, which figures to play a prominant role in the upcoming season.
“Well, he definitely helped to sell it,” he said.
“That’s his voice on the commercial you see for the mall. Again, a man who believes that the duties of the mayor extend to doing voice-over for commercials for malls.”
Stranger Things Season 3 premieres on Netflix on July 4.