Joe Keery: the actor who plays Steve Harrington, and Djo, his music project
Actors · Joe Keery · Steve Harrington
Joe Keery was supposed to appear in a handful of episodes: Steve Harrington was written as the unlikable boyfriend Nancy gets rid of. Ten years later, Steve is one of the favorite characters in the show, and Joe Keery, under the name Djo, signed one of the hits of 2024. Portrait of an actor with two careers.
The essentials
- Born: April 24, 1992, Newburyport, Massachusetts
- Role: Steve Harrington, seasons 1 to 5
- Music: Djo, former member of Post Animal
- Elsewhere: Free Guy, Fargo (Season 5), Finalmente l'alba
Contents
Joe Keery: Chicago, the commercials, and Post Animal
Before Hawkins, Joe Keery is a Chicago actor, a DePaul University graduate, who strings together commercials and bit parts, including an episode of Empire and a turn on Chicago Fire. He also plays guitar in Post Animal, a psychedelic rock band from the city, with which he records a first album.
He auditions for Season 1 in 2015, first for another role, before being cast as Steve. The character, as written, was not supposed to survive the audience's affection: Joe Keery makes him funny enough and human enough that the Duffers rewrite the end of the season.
The Steve T-shirt, nail bat optional.
In the shopKids' Steve's Babies T-shirt24,90 €See the product
Steve Harrington, from high-school king to babysitter
Steve's path is that of the most successful casting on the show: the arrogant pretty boy of Season 1 becomes, in Season 2, the children's protector, nail bat in hand; in Season 3, the ice-cream scooper in a sailor uniform who discovers a Russian base; in Season 4, the video-store clerk who dives first into the lake. Joe Keery plays all of that with the same hair and an assumed sense of the ridiculous.
The duo with Dustin, born of a demodog hunt, became the comic heart of the show, and his friendship with Robin, in the movie-theater bathroom at Starcourt, one of its tenderest scenes.
The hairSteve's hair became a subject of its own: four sprays of Farrah Fawcett hairspray, he tells Dustin in Season 2, when the hair is “damp, not wet”. The line went around the world.
Djo: the second career
In 2019, Joe Keery leaves Post Animal and launches a solo project under the name Djo (pronounced “Joe”), with an album, Twenty Twenty. The second, Decide, comes out in 2022. In 2024, a song from that album, End of Beginning, explodes on social media two years after its release and enters the world charts: it talks about Chicago, about the end of an era, and many fans heard in it a farewell to Steve.
A third album, The Crux, follows in 2025. Djo performs on tour and at festivals, often in a wig and glasses, so the audience listens to the music before recognizing the actor.
| Album | Year | To remember |
|---|---|---|
| Twenty Twenty | 2019 | First solo album, psychedelic rock |
| Decide | 2022 | End of Beginning, viral hit in 2024 |
| The Crux | 2025 | Third album; its cover is nominated at the 2026 Grammy Awards |
At the movies and elsewhere
Joe Keery plays the programmer Keys in Free Guy (2021) opposite Ryan Reynolds, a rideshare driver obsessed with fame in Spree, the 50s filmmaker in Finalmente l'alba, and above all Gator Tillman, the sheriff's son in Season 5 of Fargo (2023), his most noticed role outside Hawkins.
He keeps running both careers at once. After the end of the show, music seems to take the lead, without cinema being dropped.
The Steve figure, haircut faithful.
In the shopLego Steve Harrington Scoops Ahoy mini figure14,90 €See the product
What you know less about him
Joe Keery was born in Newburyport, Massachusetts, second of five children, and only did high-school theater because his older sister insisted. Trained at the Theatre School of DePaul University in Chicago, graduated in 2014, he shot commercials for fast-food chains and a video game brand before his first film, an independent production from 2015. He had first auditioned for Jonathan before sending a tape for Steve, late in 2015.
In Post Animal, he was first the drummer, on the first EP in 2015, before switching to guitar and vocals on the first album, in 2018. He stopped touring with the band in 2017 and left it in 2018 so as not to mix Steve's fame with the band's name, he explained. Post Animal ended up opening for his 2025 tour.
Steve in 1987: the big brother who almost falls
The last season gives Steve a coordinator's place: he works at the radio station with Robin, follows Hopper during the crawls, leads the group into the Upside Down by car up to the wall, and invents Operation Magic Bean, the plan that consists of climbing the radio tower to the Abyss. His falling-out with Dustin, about Eddie, is settled in the melting lab, when Dustin stops him from charging.
In the finale, Steve almost falls from the antenna and it is Jonathan, his former rival, who catches him. The show gives him neither Nancy nor anyone: in spring 1989, he finds Robin, Nancy, and Jonathan at the station, and the four promise to see each other again. Many viewers had seen him dying since season 4; the Duffers have said they wanted an ending without a slaughter.
“End of Beginning”: the unexpected hit
The song that made Djo a worldwide name was not written for that. “End of Beginning” is the sixth track on Decide, released in 2022; two years later, a clip went viral on social media, and the song was released as a single, entering the charts in dozens of countries. A lot of fans heard in it a goodbye to Chicago and, by ricochet, to Steve, as the show was nearing its end.
The third album, The Crux, came out on April 4, 2025, preceded by three singles, and its cover was nominated at the 2026 Grammy Awards. The world tour that went with it started in early 2025, between the end of the show's shoot and the last season's release.
The Scoops Ahoy keychain, for the summer of 1985.
In the shopScoops Ahoy Steve and Robin vest29,90 €See the product
TakeawayJoe Keery was born in 1992 in Massachusetts and started in Chicago. Steve Harrington was supposed to vanish after Season 1; he stayed five seasons. Under the name Djo, he released three albums and the hit End of Beginning. On film and TV: Free Guy, Spree, Finalmente l'alba, Fargo Season 5.
Frequently asked questions
Who plays Steve Harrington?
Joe Keery, American actor and musician born in 1992 in Massachusetts, present in all five seasons.
What is Djo?
Joe Keery's solo music project, launched in 2019. His song End of Beginning became a worldwide hit in 2024.
Was Steve supposed to die in season 1?
The character was written as a passing antagonist. Joe Keery's performance led the creators to rewrite him, and he stayed until the end.
In which films does Joe Keery act?
Free Guy, Spree, Finalmente l'alba, and season 5 of the series Fargo, in which he plays Gator Tillman.
Why did Joe Keery leave Post Animal?
For his actor commitments, in 2018, and so that Steve's fame would not weigh on the band. Post Animal later opened for his 2025 tour.
When did "End of Beginning" come out?
In 2022, on the album Decide. The track went viral in 2024 and was then released as a single.
Is Joe Keery in Fargo?
Yes, Gator Tillman, the sheriff's son, in the fifth season of Fargo in 2023, his most noticed role outside the show.