Stranger Things star Joseph Quinn has been inducted into legendary metal band Metallica as an honorary member after jamming with the band at the Lollapalooza festival in the US.
On the show, Quinn plays Eddie Munson, a misunderstood metal fan who’s forced to go on the run when he’s wrongly accused of murder. In a pivotal scene, Eddie saves the day by playing “the most metal concert ever”: Metallica’s icon banger, Master of Puppets. Quinn performed the song himself.
On Saturday, Netflix shared a clip of the 28-year-old British actor joining the band backstage at the festival, where lead singer James Hetfield invites Quinn to jam with them in the band’s tuning room.
“I’m a bit rusty,” Quinn says. “You might need to give me a lesson.”
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He describes the song as being all he listened to for two years during the pandemic while he was waiting for shooting on season four of the show to resume after the UK and US lockdowns.
“I feel very connected to you guys.”
He then gets to play Master of Puppets with the band, prompting drummer Lars Ulrich to announce Metallica “just became a five piece”.
Hetfield caps the love fest off by giving Quinn a replica BC Rich NJ series Warlock guitar like the one played by Eddie on the show, signed by the band, with Eddie’s Hellfire Club logo inside the case.
Quinn’s transformative performance of Eddie Munson has been widely lauded by fans and critics.
The character swiftly took on iconic status, appearing in memes, on tee shirts across the Internet, while a petition created by fans to demand the Stranger Things producers The Duffer Brothers bring Eddie back next season has reached more than 80,000 signatures.
The South London-raised actor, who studied drama at the Benedict Cumberbatch’s old school, Lamda , has been in hot demand since the show’s final episodes aired in mid-July.
A recent London comic convention allegedly tuned sour when organizers were overwhelmed by the number of people who turned out to meet him.
During a Q&A at the event, a fan expressing gratitude for Quinn’s performance and for the time he spent with the fans brought the actor to tears. When 1883 Magazine published a cover story with the star its site crashed for 24 hours.
In an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Quinn expressed surprise and relief at the response to Eddie. He said he would love to play Eddie again, and is open to returning, although he has no idea how they would do that.
“It was moving to see how many people have identified with him,” Quinn told Fallon.
Stranger Things season four is available on Netflix now.