Stranger Things’ Priah Ferguson on Why Everyone Loves (Fears) Erica

In the world of Stranger Things, nerds are heroes and bullies are baddies. Anyone who makes fun of Mike, Will, Dustin, and Lucas clearly aligns with Vecna, while even a prep like Steve wins us over by joining with the nerds. Yet, there’s one great exception to that rule, one person who can toss out an insult and make us love her for it: Erica Sinclair, Lucas’ spunky little sister.

For Erica’s actor Priah Ferguson, there’s a simple secret behind Erica’s power.

“I think that someone needs to say what people are thinking on the show,” Ferguson tells Den of Geek. “Her intelligence is her own little personal weapon. 
She’s the smartest one in the room, and it’s great to have her there in the midst of confusion all the time.”

Erica certainly established that dynamic in her first appearance, interrupting Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) showing off his (frankly incredible) Ghostbusters costume in season two by observing, “God, you are such a nerd.” When her mother (Karen Ceesay) pushes back, Erica refuses to relent. “Just the facts,” she insists.

Lines like that not only made Erica a fan favorite, but also kept her on the show. “Originally, Erica was written just to have one appearance in season two,” Ferguson reveals. “But the Duffers kept finding ways to write her back in a little in season two, wherever they could. Then in season three, she came back with a lot, you know, the whole ‘You can’t spell America without Erica’ speech, which was great.”

Grateful as she is for the continued work, Erica’s popularity comes as a surprise to Ferguson. “I definitely wasn’t expecting the fans to like her so much,” she enthuses. “I knew she was written well, but I wasn’t expecting such a huge fan base for her. 
But it was so exciting!”

“She comes in at a perfect time, especially when everything is going on and people just want answers to stuff,” Ferguson adds. “She comes in with the answers, says what people are thinking and wants to handle straight business. So I think that’s why people like her so much. She’s relatable.”

Erica certainly gets a chance to handle straight business in the most crowd-pleasing moment of season five’s first volume. Enlisted to help capture Derek Turnbow (Jake Connelly) before Vecna can take him, Erica joins her frenemy and Derek’s older sister Tina (Caroline Elle Abrams) for dinner, ready with pie laced with a sleeping agent. When Tina refuses, Erica has to get resourceful, forcing everyone to partake before beasties from the Upside Down can arrive.

Tense as the scene was on screen, Furgeson had a delightful time shooting it. “Oh, my gosh, that scene was so much to film!” she exclaims. “We had a lot of laughs But we also just wanted to tell a great story, so we weren’t laughing super hard to where we weren’t focused. 
And Frank [Darabont] who directed the episode, was amazing. He made sure to affirm us, and he made sure we were doing a great job.”

And, of course, Ferguson did her part to maintain solidarity with castmates where the pie was involved. “I did eat some of the pie, and I didn’t fall out from eating it,” she confesses. “The pie was pretty good!”

Willing though she may be to blend fiction and reality when it comes to baked goods, Ferguson points out that she doesn’t share her character’s sharp tongue.

“I’m definitely not a bully or as blunt as her, but me and Erica have some similarities. I would say she’s very confident in who she is. She kind of fills up any room, she goes into, and I think that that’s me as well.”

Becoming a fan favorite in a show full of fan favorites proves that Ferguson has certainly earned the right to be confident. Equally exciting is what the young star has planned as she moves out of Hawkins, Indiana. In addition to appearing in the Jean-Michel Basquiat biopic Samo Lives, alongside Kelvin Harrison Jr. and Jeffrey Wright, Ferguson is lending her voice to the scripted podcast series Hard Drive, from The Umbrella Academy producers the Neese Brothers. “It’s basically about this girl named Dasha who discovers her grandfather’s hard drive and finds out about this secret life he had,” she explains, teasing another sci-fi adventure.

But for right now, Ferguson is focused on saying goodbye to Stranger Things.

“It’s definitely emotional,” she admits. “It’s a tender feeling for me because I started doing the show when I was nine. I’ve been doing it for 10 years and I’m more familiar with the show being part of my life than being without it, so I’m kind of saying goodbye to my childhood. That can be bittersweet, but she’ll always be a part of me.”

And Erica Sinclair will always be a part of fans’ lives too, as long we need someone to say what we’re thinking amidst the chaos.

Stranger Things season 5 volume 1 is now streaming on Netflix. Volume 2 premieres Thursday, December 25 at 8 p.m. ET.