culture with its visual grammar inspired by the works of filmmaker steven spielberg horror film legend john carpenter and author stephen king among others hawke daughter of hollywood stars uma thurman and ethan hawke said the show doffs its hat to the references from her parents generation its also so much about our parents generation the different aspects of their youth are there and that has always been a cool familial thing because there are so many sentimental references to things that were important to them as teenagers or young adults that is a nice familial thing she added caleb mclaughlin gaten matarazzo charlie heaton and david harbour round out the cast of stranger things