James Hetfield went meta with his ‘Stranger Things’ Halloween costume
Although the name “James Hetfield” is never directly said during season four of Stranger Things, the Metallica frontman had quite the presence in the hit Netflix show’s most recent outing. That’s largely thanks to Eddie Munson, the heavy metal-loving Dungeons and Dragons dungeon master who went into the Upside Down and distracted the demo-bats with one of Hetfield’s most punishing riffs.
Munson, played to perfection by Joseph Quinn, had plenty of other metal references throughout his brief run on the show, including rocking a Dio denim jacket and defending an Iron Maiden cassette. But it was his love for Metallica that ultimately saved the world… however brief and futile that martyrdom might have been. It’s only fair for Hetfield to repay the favour.
So this year, during the one day of the year when it’s appropriate for everyone to dress up as their favourite characters, Hetfield got together his best Hellfire Club T-shirt and denim cuts to dress up as Eddie Munson. If Eddie were a real person and had known this was coming, it probably would have been even more surprising than learning that there was a whole other world just below Hawkins.
As some vigilant Instagram commenters have noted, Hetfield’s Munson costume looks remarkably like James Hetfield circa 1984. In fact, if you replaced Munson’s dark bundle of hair with a blonde wig of the same length, Hetfield would have basically gone back in time and cosplayed as himself from four decades ago.
The guys in Metallica have been remarkably supportive of Stranger Things in the months since the fourth season premiered. They’ve gone on record telling old-school gatekeeping fans to shut up and let new people discover the music, and have even invited Quinn to play ‘Master of Puppets’ with them backstage before their appearance at Lollapalooza earlier this year.
Check out Hetfield’s Eddie Munson costume down below.
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