The chilling real kidnapping that shaped Winona Ryders’ Stranger Things performance

Winona Ryder has revealed the tragic real-life inspiration behind her performance as Joyce Byers in Stranger Things, and it makes the show feel even more emotionally brutal.

In a recent Interview Magazine chat promoting the final series, Ryder explained how Joyce’s frantic fight to save Will wasn’t just acting, it was fuelled by her own experience supporting the family of Polly Klaas, a 12-year-old girl kidnapped from Ryder’s hometown in the early 90s.

Credit: Netflix

“I knew her family,” she shared. “She was missing for two months… When you’re around that kind of tangible grief, it’s otherworldly.”

Ryder had helped try to keep the case in the news at the time, even offering a $200,000 reward for information. After Polly was tragically found to have been killed, it left a mark Ryder still carries — one she brought directly into Joyce’s panic and determination.

“She wanted to be an actress and her favourite book was Little Women,” Ryder said. “That was a big reason I did that movie and dedicated it to her.”

But that personal connection also made Stranger Things a tough decision. Having lived through the real horror of a missing child, Ryder was terrified the storyline wouldn’t handle that trauma respectfully.

“I was actually really freaked out… you can’t use disappearances as a tool to advance, it feels very personal,” she said. “I talked to Polly’s dad, and a lot of my performance in that first season was connected to him.”

Credit: Netflix

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And while the show catapulted into massive fame, Ryder was dealing with constant high-stress emotional scenes, and trying to look out for her young co-stars as they navigated sudden stardom.

“When you’re trying to maintain that level of intense anxiety and anger, it’s so hard,” she said, calling herself a “wreck” during the first season. “I was watching these kids… feeling really protective and concerned.”

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Featured image credit: Netflix