Paul Reiser talks Stranger Things 2 and his character’s connection to Aliens

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

I wouldn't have thought that a series which followed a group of young kids in the 1980's as they cross paths with psychokinetic test subjects, alternate dimensions and government conspiracies would have taken off in the way that it did, but Netflix's Stranger Things has certainly become a bit of a phenomenon. There's still a long road ahead of us until the October release of its much anticipated second season, but we've been getting plenty of teases in the past few weeks, and the latest comes from Paul Reiser, who spoke to Entertainment Weekly about his character and how he was inspired by ALIENS' Carton Burke.

Paul Reiser will be playing Dr. Owens, a scientist who is tasked with containing the events which occured in the first season, but even before Reiser was cast in the role, Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer were already referring to the character as an homage to Reiser's role in ALIENS. "We want people to have those debates like, ‘Do you trust that guy or is he Burke?'" said Ross. "Paul was saying the reason James Cameron cast him is because he thought people would inherently trust him and it would be a twist." As for Reiser himself, even he isn't entirely sure whether Dr. Owens will be trustworthy or not as the Duffer Brothers didn't lay out his arc for the second season.

They told me who I was playing and they told me what they had in mind. It was sort of nebulous — is he a good guy or a bad guy? To be honest, I’ve only read a few of the scripts so I still don’t know and I’m not sure they know. I think part of what they were tickled by was, to whatever extent people know me from Aliens, they’re automatically going, “Oh this guy is no good.” I don’t know where they’re going with it but it’s a fun thing to play.

I have a certain thing in my head that I’m playing. I did a scene a few weeks ago with David Harbour, and it was a heated scene where he’s sort of holding me accountable. My lines were to the effect of, “Trust me. Everything is fine.” I said, “I don’t believe me and I am me!” It just feels like there’s such a well-worn precedent not just of Aliens but in life when a government guy says, “No, you’re fine. There’s nothing to worry about here.” It’s like, “Yeah, I don’t believe you.”

Dr. Owens will be somewhat similar to Matthew Modine's character in the first season, but Paul Reiser says that Owens will have "a little more humanity," and added that "Modine’s character had very few lines so he was this looming, powerful presence. My guy is much more hands-on and sort of among his many degrees is that he has a bedside manner that Modine’s character did not have. I know coming into this what this community has gone through and my job is to try and walk them through their mistrust."

The second season of Netflix's Stranger Things will debut on October 31, 2017.