Stranger Things fans fell in love with Joseph Quinn’s metalhead Eddie Munson in season 4. Now, the character is getting an origin story.
EW can exclusively reveal the cover art for Stranger Things: Flight of Icarus, the upcoming novel from author Caitlin Schneiderhan, who’s currently serving in the show’s season 5 writers’ room. We also have some new details.
Flight of Icarus, which Penguin Random House will publish Oct. 31, is set in 1984, two years before the events of Stranger Things season 4. According to the official plot description, the story follows Eddie as he meets a record producer named Paige, who gives the Hellfire Club leader the chance to achieve his musical dreams with his band Corroded Coffin. He just needs money, which gets him entangled in his dad’s latest shady scheme.
Read the full synopsis below.
Hawkins, Indiana — for most, it’s simply another idyllic, manicured all-American town. But for Eddie Munson it’s like living in a perpetual Tomb of Horrors. Luckily, he only has a few more months to survive at Hawkins High. And what is senior year, really, but just killing time between Dungeons & Dragons sessions with the Hellfire Club and gigs with his band?
It’s at the worst dive bar in town that Eddie meets Paige, someone who has pulled off a freaking miracle. She escaped Hawkins and built a wickedly cool life for herself working for a record producer out in Los Angeles. Not only is she the definition of a badass — with a killer taste in music — she might be the only person that actually appreciates him as the bard he is instead of the devil incarnate. But the best thing? She’s offering a chance for him to make something of himself, and all he needs is to get her a demo tape of Corroded Coffin’s best songs.
Just one problem: Recording costs money. Money Eddie doesn’t have. But he’s willing to do whatever it takes: even if that means relying on his old man, Al Munson. His dad just stumbled back into his life, with another dubious scheme up his sleeve, and yet Eddie knows this is his only option to make enough dough in enough time. It’s a risk, but if it pays off he will finally have a one-way ticket out of Hawkins.
Eddie can feel it: 1984 is going to be his year.
“The Eddie Munson we meet at the beginning of Stranger Things 4 is the protective shepherd to the nerdy lost sheep of Hawkins High. But taking on that mantle wasn’t such a cut-and-dry decision,” Schneiderhan says in a statement to EW. “I’m so excited for fans to go with him on his journey towards becoming a hero, to experience the messy and uncomfortable decisions that led him to become the brave misfit we all know and love.”
The cover of Stranger Things: Flight of Icarus features an illustration of Eddie striking a familiar pose. Throwing his head back to the sky as he shreds on guitar, Eddie brings to mind his selfless act distracting the swarms of Demobats in the Upside Down.
Speaking to why the character made such an impact, Schneiderhan says, “Eddie is a person who is unfailingly, unapologetically himself, which is irresistible enough on its own. But add on the fact that he encourages the people around him to be the same? Who wouldn’t want to be friends with that guy?”
“Meeting the characters from Eddie’s past who — for better or worse — had a part in shaping who he is was one of the most rewarding parts of exploring this story, and I can’t wait for the fans to meet them, too!” she continues. “Eddie, this is for you!”
