Netflix’s Stranger Things has been the sleeper-hit of the summer, proving to all of us that the ’80s never truly died and that for some reason we all still love watching stories of kids on bikes overcoming the odds. One of the more interesting theories to come out of Stranger Things came from our very own Jason Nawara, with Jason building a link between Stranger Things bad boy Steve and Parks & Rec‘s eccentric entrepreneur, Jean-Ralphio.
Needless to say, the Internet ate this theory up in a heartbeat and it made its way back to Jean-Ralphio himself, Ben Schwartz, who complimented the theory as having “air-tight logic.” Who are we to disagree?
Air tight logic. The Jean-Ralphio @Stranger_Things secret is out @KenTremendous– https://t.co/fURwlMx1Er
— Ben Schwartz (@rejectedjokes) August 10, 2016
Ben Schwartz appeared on The Late Late Show with James Corden, where he was asked point-blank about the theory. His answer may shock you: Steve is Jean-Ralphio’s father.
If I was to add to this theory, I’d say that Jean-Ralphio probably lived 50 percent of his life in The Upside Down, but he was, like, super chill, super cool in The Upside Down. You know what I mean? Like, he ran that sh*t. He was super friends with the monster, when he met the monster he was like a little kid, so like, by the time it was a full-blown monster they had like a dance together.
As for if we could expect Schwartz actually appearing in a further season of Stranger Things, he seemed confident.
“I’m assuming there’s a 100 percent chance of me being on Stranger Things seasons 2 through 100.”
While a second season of Stranger Things isn’t exactly a lock yet, Netflix understands the demand for it. Licensing the Jean-Ralphio character would probably be pretty difficult, plus there would be some Star Trek-esque time warps going on, but hey, fans can dream, can’t they?
(Via /film)