When Stranger Things was first released in July, viewers were quick to point out that one of the show’s recurring characters, Steve Harrington (Joe Keery), looked identical to Ben Schwartz’s Parks and Recreation character, Jean-Ralphio. While Stranger Things co-creators Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer left a few questions unanswered, this mysterious, joking theory about the resemblance could mean has finally been solved, thanks to Schwartz and Parks and Rec co-creator Mike Schur.
During an episode of The Late Late Show with James Corden, Schwartz said that Harrington was in fact Jean-Ralphio’s father. Schwartz has an interesting theory as to how it all works, including "scared sperm and a traumatized egg." In the video, Schwartz doesn’t reference Henry Winkler, who plays Jean-Ralphio’s father, Dr. Saperstein, on Parks and Rec, but let’s just assume that it all works out somehow.
Schwartz’s claims were later backed up on Twitter by Mike Schur, the co-creator of Parks and Recreation. Schur said that while they couldn’t confirm or deny if Steve was Jean-Ralphio’s father, he could say that "Steve is definitely his real dad."
Schwartz took the joke one step further, proclaiming that he’d be appearing in the second season of Stranger Things — a season, it should be noted, that hasn’t been announced by Netflix at this time. During the Television Critics Association conference in Los Angeles, Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos said the reason Netflix hadn’t renewed it at the time was because the company likes to mull its options over when looking at new series.
Stranger Things has reportedly become one of the most popular and watched shows on Netflix, according to different analyst firms, so expect to hear an announcement for a sophomore season order sometime soon.
Correction: The Parks and Recreation co-creator in question is Mike Schur, not Ken Schur. And James Corden’s CBS show is called The Late Late Show with James Corden, not The Late Show with James Corden. We’ve edited the article to reflect this.
