Inside ‘Stranger Things’ Stars Natalia Dyer & Charlie Heaton’s Private Romance
What To Know
- Natalia Dyer and Charlie Heaton, who play Nancy and Jonathan on Stranger Things, have been dating for roughly eight years.
- They met on the set of the Netflix hit.
- The couple has kept their relationship mostly private, though they’ve occasionally made public appearances and spoken about each other in the media.
Are Stranger Things‘ Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer) and Jonathan Byers (Charlie Heaton) endgame material? With Vecna gunning for them, going to college in different states is the least of their problems. Even though their romantic outcome remains up in the air, we do know one thing for sure: Dyer and Heaton’s love story is still going strong.
While they’ve walked red carpets and promoted the show together for years, Dyer and Heaton have always kept details of their relationship out of the public eye. Only in rare situations do these two open up about their real-life romance.
The costars have been together for almost as long as Stranger Things has been airing. If you’re just as worried about Jancy’s Season 5 fate as we are, you can find comfort reading all about Dyer and Heaton’s real-life relationship. Swooon has done a deep dive into the actors’ almost decade-long romance, including everything they’ve said about each other over the years.
2015
August: Dyer and Heaton’s casting in Stranger Things was announced, and filming began the next month. That means the future couple likely met several months earlier at their chemistry read. “That first audition, we did a chemistry read with [Heaton and] Natalia, and sparks were flying,” cocreator Matt Duffer told GQ in February 2020.
2016
September: A few months after Season 1 premiered, Dyer first appeared on Heaton’s Instagram alongside some friends. They were vacationing in Spain, with the actor writing “Amigos!! 🇪🇸” in the caption. A few days later, Dyer uploaded her first picture of Heaton to Instagram, sparking romance rumors. “Wow congrats @charlie.r.heaton on his new one man show Stranger Wings!! Sure gonna miss you s2 but happy you’re doing what you love,” she captioned it.
October: The actors coordinated their Halloween costumes — but it wasn’t a couple’s costume. Two of their friends also dressed up as Wizard of Oz characters. So, still no confirmation that they were dating.
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2017
January: Remember that iconic elevator moment between Heaton, Keery, and Dyer at the 74th Golden Globe Awards? We sure do. The then-rumored couple attended the ceremony alongside the rest of the cast, since Stranger Things was nominated for Best Television Series Drama. Afterward, they were spotted at the airport together.
March: The actors were asked about their relationship status for the first time by TMZ. Once again at LAX, the couple side-stepped the question. “Whether people are dating or hanging out, I think that our cast just is cool with each other,” Dyer said. “I mean, I won’t speak for anybody else but it’s been you know. We’re all one big family.”
October: Their first big PDA moment! Dyer and Heaton were papped holding hands as they walked down the street in New York City.
November: The couple was spotted looking cozy in Paris, where they were doing press for Stranger Things Season 2. A week later, Dyer and Heaton were photographed kissing each other while out and about in London.
December: At the 2017 Fashion Awards in London, the actors made their red carpet debut as a couple.
2018
January: Heaton marks Dyer’s birthday with an Instagram post. He wrote, “I hope it’s a great one and I’m stoked to be working on this new series with you. I think it’s gonna be great. 🎂🎉🥂🙏🏻 P.S – Not feeling too well but I still wanna meet you at piedmont park tonight x.”
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April: Couples that go to Coachella together, stay together, right? Dyer and Heaton went to the California-based musical festival together.
September: The actors posed as a couple on the Emmys pre-party carpet and were visibly affectionate with each other. They did the same at the actual event, too, making their Emmys debut as a couple.
2019
January: Dyer revealed what she loves most about her boyfriend at the Screen Actors Guild Awards. “He’s alright, I guess,” she told Us Weekly. “He doesn’t mess up our scenes too much! No, he’s great. He’s talented, like everybody in the cast. They’re all super, just great to work with.” That same month, Heaton supported his girlfriend at the premiere of her movie Velvet Buzzsaw.
February: Heaton spoke publicly about his relationship for the first time to V Man: “To go home with someone you work with, and say, ‘I think they hate me…’ They’ll say, ‘No, they don’t.’ You can break the walls down with your partner. Because we work in the same industry and have had similar trajectories, we’ve gone through it together. Sharing that does bring you closer. They understand something that maybe no one else would. You go into high-pressure situations together, but you can share those insecurities or whatever they are. The great, happy times, too…Really f**king sweet!”
July: Ahead of Season 3’s premiere and before going on an Italy vacation with her boyfriend, Dyer expressed a similar sentiment. “It’s an interesting thing to work with somebody who you go home with,” she said to Refinery 29. “It’s always really fun. We’re really comfortable with each other, so we can play and feel more free, and we can talk about it before.”
September: The stylish couple took on New York Fashion Week and Paris Fashion Week.
2020
January: Another year, another carpet! Heaton and Dyer made an appearance at the 2020 SAG Awards together, shortly after Heaton posted an adorable photo tribute for his girlfriend’s birthday.
February: Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Heaton opened up about why he kept his relationship with Dyer private in the beginning. According to the GQ, the actor “explain[ed] that they weren’t being sneaky — they were young coworkers on a huge job interested in each other, and they didn’t want to mess with anything.” Heaton added, “We didn’t really know what the relationship was.”
2021
December: After being put on pause, Stranger Things Season 4 filming resumed in June 2021 and wrapped in September 2021. Dyer and Heaton then made their first public appearance in over a year at a Dior show. So, it was more or less an indication that they were still going strong post-pandemic.
2022
May: Around the time Season 4 came out, Dyer reacted to viewers’ interest in her relationship, per Cosmopolitan. “I think it’s a natural instinct to want to know more about the people who are on your screens for hours, about what they’re like in real life,” she said. “[But] now that I’ve experienced the other side of it… It sounds so cliché, but I’m just a person, too. Some people are very good about being open and sharing, and other people feel a little more comfortable holding some things for themselves.”
She also described how their relationship came about. “We were colleagues first,” Dyer began. “It’s a standard, natural thing that would’ve happened either way. We work on the same show – naturally, we would do interviews together and things like that. The weirdest thing about [our relationship] is other people’s perception and reaction to it. Everything else just feels very human.”
2023
April: The Writers Guild of America strike began in May 2023, followed by the SAG-AFTRA strike, so with the industry on pause, there weren’t many sightings that year of Dyer and Heaton. Shortly before the strikes took place, the couple attended yet another Dior event in New York City. They weren’t spotted again until December, when they hailed a cab in the city.
2024
December: The couple avoided the spotlight for most of the year as they filmed Season 5. Social media sleuths seemed to have found a photo of Dyer and Heaton at the season wrap party, but it was never confirmed to have been official.
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2025
February: Last but not least, before they kicked off the Season 5 press tour this November, Heaton and Dyer resurfaced at Burberry’s London Fashion Week show.
November: The couple embarked on the Season 5 press tour, and Heaton offered more rare comments about their romance. The actor described working with his girlfriend as “precious.”
“It’s been a gift to work with my best friend,” he told Wonderland. “To be able to have a shared experience with your partner about the anxiety when you don’t get a job – I know what that feels like, she knows what that feels like. You can be there to talk about it, or when you have a shit day at work, or come away from a scene and you didn’t think it worked. To be able to both understand each other on that level is great.”
