The beloved Netflix sci-fi series Stranger Things has never shied away from killing off or torturing some of the favorite characters. Before season 4 premiered on the platform, the Duffer brothers had emphasized that this season was the darkest of all the seasons so far. We should have taken that as a fair warning. That way death in the first episode would not have surprised us as much. More than the death, how Chrissy Cunningham (Grace Van Dien) was brutally murdered shocked the viewers. Now the creators regret killing the character off so “prematurely”. 

How did Chrissy die? 

In episode 1, we see Chrissy as the popular cheerleader. She’s the Queen of Hawkin’s High as Eddie tells her. But behind that sweet smile is a scared girl. Vecna tortures her with visions of her mother who we see is extremely domineering. To escape the nightmares, she contacts Eddie for some drugs. But shortly after, Vecna kills her in Eddie’s trailer. Vecna gouges her eyes and snaps her bones which we later learn is the season 4 villian’s trademark killing style. 

Grace Van Dien and Eddie Munson had great chemistry in the few scenes together

The 25-year-old actress didn’t have too many scenes. The writers had written her as a one-episode character. However, the Duffer brothers were startled at how Grace Van Dien and Joseph Quinn’s Eddie Munson played off each other in that scene in the woods. They hadn’t expected that chemistry between them. But they couldn’t make any changes because that scene was shot after Chrissy’s death scene. 

The actress indeed deserves praise for making the audience care for her and Eddie in a few short minutes. The Duffer brothers praised her and hope to find something for her in the next season of Stranger Things. 

“We’ll find something else to do with Grace,” they said. 

Does that mean we’ll see Chrissy again? Probably. We might get to see some progress between her and Eddie. They might bring her back in a flashback or a vision like Billy.