Maya Hawke

The ‘Stranger Things’ star on her new album, wanting to die (onscreen), and which of her parents’ movies she hasn’t seen

- ANGIE MARTOCCIO

If you want Stranger Things spoilers, don’t ask Maya Hawke. “I’m of no use there,” the 24-year-old confidently says on Zoom, from a house her mom, Uma Thurman, rented in Sag Harbor, New York. “My character doesn’t have a ton of spoil-y story points. I’m comic relief.” Hawke — whose father is Ethan Hawke — plays Robin Buckley, the charming, closeted band geek who fends off monsters with her sidekick Steve Harrington (Joe Keery). But when she’s not saving the town of Hawkins, Hawke is also a musician with a lush new folk album, Moss. “All I really want out of a record is permission to make another one,” she says. “I just want people to like it enough.”

You’re releasing this album on the heels of the latest season of Stranger Things. Do you usually work at this quick pace?

You’re talking to someone who was just like [whiny voice], “I need a vacation!” But I have a super-overactive brain. I have an anxious desire to prove myself that will never go away, so I always want to be working harder and doing more than my perceived opponent that doesn’t exist.

Does that desire to prove yourself come from the fact that you’re the daughter of two celebrities?

I feel like the only way to handle the nepotism thing — which definitely gives you massive advantages in this life — is, you will get chances for free, but the chances will not be infinite; so you have to keep working and do a good job. If you do a bad job, the chances will stop.