Our next FanX Flashback takes us to the Grand Ballroom panel featuring Sean Astin at FanX 2025. Astin covered a lot of ground during his appearance, from the possibility of a long-awaited “Goonies” sequel to his time on “Stranger Things” and his newly expanded role in public service. Along the way, he reflected on joining beloved franchises, what Bob Newby meant to Joyce Byers, why he once imagined becoming a congressman and the simple rule he tries to follow when stepping into an already-successful project: “Don’t suck.”
Here are a few of the highlights:
On whether “The Goonies 2” is actually happening and whether the original cast could return:
Sean Astin: No, he was in Italy at the film festival and said that he finished the draft. I know what you know, but I have a sense of confidence that it’s actually happening. Fans seem to want it. I know it’s been years.
Moderator: Maybe they’ll want the original cast to be in it as well. I don’t know. I mean, would you like to get the band back together in some form?
Astin: I mean, it’s just lived in all of our imagination for so long, probably because of the conventions, that this is what people want. It’s what they want. And we’ve all had different ideas for it. Corey Feldman and I wrote a treatment for it, and we pitched that treatment, and they’re like, “Oh, no, I’m not gonna do that.” So, you know, it’ll be weird if we’re not…
Moderator: Yeah.
Astin: So it’s gotta be good.
On whether he could eventually run for political office after becoming SAG-AFTRA president:
Astin: So before I put my name forward to be the SAG president - SAG president - I talked to my wife and kids. And I think this role is about as much as I’m gonna convince them is okay. I think at this point my wife is like, “We have these dogs, there’s a rocking chair somewhere, we’re gonna, you know, we get to just relax and have each other and time.” So who knows what the future holds in store? I always hate it when politicians who are obviously about to do something are like, “I really don’t know.” It’s like, “Yeah, you do. We already saw the bumper stickers on the back of your car,” right? Whatever. But I don’t know. I always thought I’d be a congressman or something.
Moderator: But this role of union leader –
Astin: Well, yeah. I love “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” anything Frank Capra ever did, [several unclear film references/titles], “To Kill a Mockingbird.” As a performer, you aspire to this great civic virtue. That’s the thing: What can you do to contribute to the lives of the people around you?
And because I’m an actor who’s enjoyed more than my fair share of good fortune working and earning, you might start to buy the press. You might start to believe that you can actually do all that.
So, I have no idea. But what I look for in people who are doing that, I want to see people who are passionate. I want to see people who are honest, but not held to some ridiculous cartoon standard.
And I want to see people who have real, genuine curiosity and passion for what it is that they’re going to be doing, you know, and, like, that. And as much as you go for good leaders, we need to be good people. Like, leaders require good people.
On playing Bob Newby in “Stranger Things” and joining franchises that were already massive:
Astin: I learned about “Stranger Things” coming to conventions. People would come up to me, “Have you seen Stranger Things?” I’m like, “What is that?” They’re like, “No, no, no, it’s Goonies. It’s Goonies. It’s Goonies.” I’m like, “It’s Goonies? Goonies didn’t have big monsters.” It looked a little scarier, but they’re riding bikes, there’s RadioShack, it’s the ’80s.
To me, Bob’s function in the story was to give Joyce and the audience a moment to breathe, because you’d spent an entire season with her in absolute terror with the loss of her son. It was kind of unrelenting cruelty to that character.
So they gave her a few episodes where she could have somebody who was there and cared about her, and cared about her kids. His whole thing was just like, “Bring some puzzles. I want you to be happy.” Boy, that would be pretty great if some of us knew how to do that - just make someone else happy.
[Astin said he appreciated joining a show that had already become a major cultural phenomenon, comparing the experience to entering other established worlds such as “The Color of Magic” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.”]
The feeling is, number one, you want to make sure you do your job and don’t suck, right? That’s the number one thing: don’t suck. And contribute. Find some way to contribute to what this thing is that’s being created.
I actually auditioned for a different character. I auditioned for the reporter, the guy who was investigating [Barb]. But then they said, “Can you come back and read for this other guy, Bob?” I was super appreciative that they had accomplished this amazing thing, and I was there to basically help it keep going.
I didn’t know, when I got “Lord of the Rings,” anything about the Tolkien lore and mythology and how well-known that story was around the world, in every language, for generations. I knew it intellectually, but I didn’t feel it like that.
So “Stranger Things,” yeah, it was pretty great to just be able to walk in and feel like I get to be with all these people who are doing this. The Duffer Brothers, the world they created...
I didn’t get to work with Millie. I was bummed out. In the eighth episode, they sent her to Chicago for some reason to get in, like, gang fights in Chicago. (The audience laughs.) I don’t know what happened in that episode.
But she wasn’t there, so I didn’t get to interact with her. That was the only disappointment I had, because I just thought that what they had all created with Eleven was just next level. But I got to hang with my peeps, and it was fun.
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