There are many ongoing mysteries in Netflix’s smash hit drama Stranger Things, mostly revolving around the Upside Down, the Shadow Monster and the experiments of the Hawkins National Laboratory. One of the unsolved questions that you might have missed, though, is the enigma of what happened to the Byers’ family dog, Chester. Will’s pet was seen a few times in season 1, but come season 2 he was suspiciously absent.
Given the dangerous monsters that stalk Hawkins and specifically, the Byers clan, it’s not hard to guess what happened to him: poor Chester was probably killed by a demogorgon or demodog. However, this hasn’t been addressed in the show at all so far, though it looks like an answer will soon be given as to Chester’s fate. At least, that’s according to a slip-up from one of the stars of the series.
Noah Schnapps – who plays the oft-beleaguered Will on the show – was asked by a Stranger Things fan about what happened to the family dog. In reply, he revealed that Chester died and season 3 will apparently feature a scene involving his grave. The actor seemed to realize he’d said too much immediately, though, and jokingly attempted to tell the crowd to hush down and keep it between them.
Though the in-universe reason has yet to be clarified, we do know why Chester was removed from the series behind the scenes. David Harbour has said that the dog who played the role was impossible to handle, as he just wouldn’t bark on cue. Presumably, when it came to season 2, then, the cast and crew couldn’t be bothered to deal with the troublesome canine.
Schnapp has previously commented on season 3 in a less spoiler-y way as well, teasing that it would be very different to the previous runs. As it’ll be set in summer as opposed to the fall, the actor’s said it’ll restore some of the lighter elements of the show, with “a lot of the dark parts from season two and a lot of the light playful parts.” We’ll see what he means when Stranger Things returns in 2019.