Stranger Things keeps sidelining Jonathan Byers - and he deserves so much better

Stranger Things made me care about Jonathan Byers first, and then slowly forgot why he mattered. That hurts because Jonathan is the emotional spine of the show in a quiet way.

So does Stranger Things keep sidelining him, and does he deserve better? Yes to both. The story keeps pushing him into the background while letting other characters grow louder and brighter, leaving Jonathan stuck in a loop of giving without ever getting back.

I relate to him more than I should. He is the one who carries weight without making noise. He is the one who adjusts his life so everyone else can breathe easier. And yet the show rarely stops to ask what that costs him. That is what feels unfair. Not that he suffers, but that no one inside the story or outside it really sees that he is.

Author's Note: This article reflects my personal opinion and emotional reading of Jonathan Byers’ story in Stranger Things.

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Joyce’s world slowly stopped including him

Jonathan grows up in a house where he becomes the adult before he is ready. Joyce needs help, Will needs protection, and Jonathan steps into that space without being asked. Over time, that becomes his role and then his identity. He is not the kid with dreams. He is the safety net. Stranger Things shows this again and again without ever letting him rest from it.

What hurts is not that Joyce loves Will more, and this isn’t even up for debate. I do not think she does that on purpose. What hurts is that Jonathan becomes invisible because he does not demand anything. He works, he drives, he supports, he listens, and he waits. He waits for someone to tell him it is okay to want something for himself. That moment never really comes.

Even in the later seasons of Stranger Things, when danger grows bigger, Jonathan is still positioned as support. He moves Mike, shields Will, manages tension, smooths conflict. He is always useful but rarely centered. However, as we’re almost towards the end of Stranger Things 5, all the scenes in the season have Joyce being careful and loving only towards Will, to a point where she does not even care about or ask after Jonathan anymore.

That is a strange fate for someone who carried so much emotional ground in Season 1. It feels like the story used his strength and then stopped nurturing it.

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The breakup in Stranger Things Season 5 Vol. 2 frees Nancy but strands Jonathan

The end of Jonathan and Nancy in Stranger Things Season 5 is framed as growth for her, which is fair. I get it. Nancy choosing herself is powerful and honest. But Jonathan does not get a matching moment of clarity for the same. He does not get a scene where he chooses himself too. He only agrees that the relationship cannot move forward and then steps aside.

That is the pattern. His feelings become the quiet cost of someone else’s progress. He does not argue. He does not demand space. He accepts. The show calls that maturity, but sometimes it just looks like loneliness. He loses the relationship, and he also loses the emotional place he had in the story.

Even the un-proposal moment shows this clearly. Jonathan does not ask for a future. He releases one. That is brave, but it is also sad. He walks away without a plan, without a dream in motion, without even a hint of what comes next for him. Nancy moves forward. Jonathan fades back.

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Steve grows while Jonathan stays still

Steve is fun to watch. Everybody loves Steve, the hair, Harrington, and I do too. He is loud, brave, funny, a loser in the most endearing way possible, and charming. The show loves him, and so does the audience. Over time, he becomes the emotional favorite and the heroic center. Jonathan becomes the contrast: quiet, tired, unsure, and often sidelined.

This is not about competition. It is about balance. Steve gets jokes, friendships in the form of Robin and Dustin, story-arc growth, and redemption. Jonathan gets responsibility, stress, and silence. In fact, the one friend he had in Season 4, Argyle, also gets taken away from him and is never addressed again. Hence, one character is rewarded for change; the other is punished for consistency.

Jonathan never had the luxury to be messy, reckless, or loud. He was busy keeping things together. And that is exactly why he gets overlooked. Because he works in the background. Because he does not break loudly. Because he holds things instead of throwing them.

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Stranger Things made me care about Jonathan Byers before it made me care about almost anyone else. He was the first teen character who felt real. He was tired. He was worried. He was already carrying adult weight in a kid’s body.

That is why watching the show slowly push him into the background has been so frustrating. The show does not hate him. It just forgets him. And forgetting someone like Jonathan hurts more than openly mistreating them.

That is what makes his arc feel unfair. He never gets to stop and choose himself. He never gets to be the center of his own story. He becomes the emotional glue that keeps others steady while he slowly fades into the walls. And for a show built on heart, that feels like the biggest miss of all.

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