Who Plays Chrissy Cunningham in Stranger Things 4? (Meet Grace Van Dien)

Like any of its previous seasons, Stranger Things season 4 continues the tradition of bringing in new characters every season, regardless of the importance of these characters. One such character that didn’t appear much throughout the entire season but still played a somewhat important role in the direction of the storyline is Grace Van Dien’s Chrissy Cunningham. But who is Chrissy in Stranger Things season 4?

Chrissy Cunningham was the head cheerleader at Hawkins High School and was Jason Carver’s girlfriend. Throughout the series, she was portrayed to have been suffering from psychological distress stemming from a traumatic experience with her parents in the past. She was killed by Vecna in the season premiere.

Yes, Chrissy only appeared in one episode in Stranger Things season 4, but the impact of her death was so severe that it launched the season’s main plot. Her death caused the main characters to conduct an investigation into the matter and clear Eddie Munson, who became the suspect in her murder. That said, let’s look at what we know about Chrissy in Stranger Things.

Who Does Grace Van Dien Play In Stranger Things Season 4?

After what was a pretty satisfying conclusion to the events of Stranger Things season 3, season 4 opens up with the kids seemingly living normal lives. Eleven was in California to start high school there with the Byers. Meanwhile, the other kids were back at Hawkins, living their freshmen year in high school on what was a pretty normal day for any high school student. 

Of course, considering that the main characters are now in high school, there were more characters introduced into the series. And one of these new characters is Grace Van Dien’s Chrissy, who was introduced rather early in the season and played a role in relation to the overall plot direction of the series.

Chrissy was introduced during the Hawkins High School pep rally near the beginning of the season. She was the head cheerleader and was dating basketball team captain Jason Carver. At first, everything seemed normal for Chrissy because she looked like the usual high school cheerleader that had her life planned out ahead of her. But, if you’ve seen the first three seasons of Stranger Things, you would understand that things aren’t what they seem to be.

What Happened To Chrissy In Stranger Things Season 4?

As mentioned, Chrissy looked like a normal high school teenager that had a good life because of her pretty looks and social status as the head cheerleader. However, it was clear that she wasn’t really living a great life because she was often seen attending counselling at Hawkins High School, as seen from how Max Mayfield saw her leaving Ms. Kelly’s office in the school.

In the bathroom, Max also heard Chrissy throwing up in one of the stalls and asked if she needed help, to which the cheerleader replied that she wanted to be left alone. And things quickly got weird as soon as Max left the bathroom.

While in the bathroom, Chrissy began to see weird and haunting images that were seemingly real as she herself knew that she was being haunted by something from her past. Something began mimicking her mother’s voice, and it was made clear that whatever Chrissy was suffering from had something to do with her family life back at home. It was never really revealed what happened to Chrissy and why she was haunted by the memories of her parents, but it was clear throughout the entire pilot episode of Stranger Things season 4 that she was bothered by what happened to her.

Later on, Chrissy was seen leaving the school grounds as she walked into an isolated area next to the school until she reached a forest. In the forest, she began hearing weird noises again as she tried to check what was making those noises. She saw a grandfather clock that she tried to approach until it shattered and allowed countless spiders to emerge from it.

However, as she backed away, she ran into Eddie Munson, who was introduced earlier as the leader of a group called Hellfire Club, to which Mike, Dustin, and Lucas belonged. While Eddie was first introduced as a weird guy that was seemingly Satanic in terms of his personality, he was actually a pretty sweet person in the way he approached Chrissy as he apologized for scaring her.

The reason why they were both there was because Chrissy wanted to buy illegal substances (probably weed) from Eddie, as he was set to sell them to her. Eddie even revealed to Chrissy that they once hung out in the past when he was a member of a band. And it took Chrissy time to remember him.

As the transaction was ongoing, Chrissy asked if he had something stronger because she probably wanted something that could dull her senses from everything that was happening to her. This eventually led to what happened later that night.

After the basketball championship game, Max saw Eddie and Chrissy entering his home at the trailer park. The reason why they were there was that Eddie was looking for the drug that Chrissy wanted because, as mentioned, she wanted something stronger than what he had back when they met in the forest.

Chrissy was desperately asking Eddie how long it would take for the drugs to kick in because she was clearly in distress about what was happening to her life. Eddie responded that it depended on how she used them as he went on to search for this substance that Chrissy wanted.

However, as Eddie was searching for the drug, things started to become weird for Chrissy again as she heard the clock once more. The room began to darken while she was calling out for Eddie, who wasn’t responding. She ran through a place that seemingly resembled her family home as her mind was clearly taken somewhere else even though her body was still in Eddie’s trailer.

She saw her mother sitting in a chair, but the image of her mom turned into a demonic creature that scared Chrissy as she ran for her life through a corridor. She found her father when she ran down a flight of stairs, as his father’s image turned into a horrifying sight.

Meanwhile, back in Eddie’s home, she was sitting in the same room the entire time but was standing there in a trance-like state as Eddie tried to draw her attention. However, she wasn’t responding to him at all the entire time while he was yelling out her name to try to wake her up from her catatonic state. Things started to become weird when the lights in the trailer started flickering.

Back in what looked like the Upside Down, Chrissy saw a fleshy creature approaching and cornering her. This was Vecna, who had targeted her because of her traumatic family setup at home and due to the fact that she was guilty of having an eating disorder.

Vecna cornered Chrissy and touched her face so that he could “end her suffering.” Meanwhile, Chrissy’s body in the trailer began to levitate as Eddie was clearly in shock about what was happening. Her arms and legs started to snap, and her jaw shattered as blood was coming out of her popped eyes. Eddie watched as Chrissy died in the most horrific way imaginable.

In that sense, Chrissy only appeared in one episode in Stranger Things season 4 because she died at the end of it. She was the first victim of the creature called Vecna, who preyed on young people that were suffering from traumatic pasts. It wasn’t clear what Chrissy’s past was, but it was connected to her family setup at home and her eating disorder.

While Chrissy had a limited role in the season, her death was important because it launched the entire plot. It was her death that allowed the main cast to look into the matter, as Dustin believed that Eddie, who fled the scene and was the main suspect of the murder, was innocent. And Chrissy’s death eventually led to more deaths that forced Eleven to try to get her powers back and the other kids to investigate Vecna and how to stop him.