The Scoops Troop Almost Got Cut From Stranger Things Season 3

One of the most popular elements of Stranger Things's hit third season was the Scoops Troop—the unlikely teaming of Steve (Joe Keery), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), Robin (Maya Hawke), and Erica (Priah Ferguson). While the pairing worked out perfectly in the end, the writers weren't always sure if it was the right way to go.

Per BuzzFeed, series creators the Duffer Brothers and producer Shawn Levy provided the revelation on the podcast Behind the Scenes: Stranger Things 3. “Putting Steve Harrington with Erica Sinclair, on paper that doesn't make any sense, but neither did Dustin and Steve,” Levy said, adding that the Duffers have a talent for creating, “pairings that [they've] never done before and often bottling magic by the new dynamics that come up.”

While the creators knew they wanted to play up the relationship between Dustin and Steve, Levy said that they added Robin to “put [Steve] with a classmate he barely even remembers or knows, but certainly remembers him, and that's part of the outsider group.”

Also on the podcast, Hawke remarked that her dynamic with the group mirrored that of her character’s, saying, "As I loosened up and got more comfortable on set, she loosened up and got comfortable with Steve and the whole Scoops Troop."

As for adding Erica to the group, Levy explained: “Literally putting a young child with incredible attitude in the midst of a world-saving plotline, that is just such an inappropriate mashup, but it’s the perfect formula for comedy and for fun.”

[h/t BuzzFeed]