{"id":84677,"date":"2025-12-11T23:26:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T23:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/84677\/"},"modified":"2025-12-11T23:26:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T23:26:13","slug":"stranger-things-love-is-blind-celebs-at-dallas-opening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/84677\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Stranger Things,\u2019 \u2018Love Is Blind\u2019 celebs at Dallas opening"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stranger Things\u2019 David Harbour waltzed into the room like a dashing protagonist, hamming for the photographers with ease. This was Tuesday, a red-carpet event that was part of an opening bash for Netflix House<\/a>, the 21st-century entertainment hub hoping to turn the brand known for chillin\u2019 with your honey on the couch into a family-friendly destination. Nestled in the Galleria, in a Philip Johnson structure originally designed for a Marshall Field\u2019s, Netflix House has been transformed into a pop-culture palace of art and neon and diversion; every nook and cranny will play well on Instagram. <\/p>\n

The biggest draw might be the Stranger Things adventure room, where visitors try to solve a mystery in the haunted woods of Hawkins, Ind., in the 1980s. (Squid Game also has an adventure room.) The journalist beside me asked Harbour how the room compared to the actual set. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have those same exact vines,\u201d he told her, and he was so close I could contemplate his neatly trimmed facial hair, which had transformed over his journey as heroic father figure Jim Hopper. The stubble and bushy cop mustache in Season 1 became the scraggly mountain-man beard in Season 5, and I was opening my mouth to ask him about this when he was briskly escorted out of the room. <\/p>\n

Plot twist: There would be no David Harbour interview.<\/p>\n

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\u2018Stranger Things\u2019 galore\"Cara<\/p>\n

Cara Buono, who plays Karen Wheeler on “Stranger Things,” poses for a photo during red-carpet opening of the new Netflix House, on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, at Galleria Dallas. <\/p>\n

Shafkat Anowar \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

Co-star Cara Buono proved more accessible, and it was hard to believe she was 54. Her skin looked ageless, a trick you can\u2019t pull off with Botox and fillers without distorting your smile. Hers was natural. <\/p>\n

\u201cLet me tell you something about sunscreen,\u201d she said. \u201cSo back in the \u201880s when no one was really talking about sunscreen, my lovely father was way into nutrition and wellness, and he was not a doctor. He was a truck mechanic.\u201d <\/p>\n

We got to chitchatting about Gen X tanning fads, girls slathering themselves with Banana Boat and baby oil. The nostalgia felt appropriate, since Buono plays suburban mom Karen Wheeler on Stranger Things, whose teased hair and shoulder pads mark her as a tragic victim of \u201980s fashion. Karen gets her own hero\u2019s journey, though, including fighting off a Demogorgon in her kitchen and daydreaming about hunky lifeguard Billy Hargrove. <\/p>\n

When I spoke with the actor who plays Karen\u2019s husband, Joe Chrest, he said if he had to play another character on Stranger Things, he\u2019d choose Karen. \u201cYou get to flirt with the fabulous Billy,\u201d he joked.<\/p>\n

\"Joe<\/p>\n

Joe Chrest, who plays Ted Wheeler on “Stranger Things,” poses during red carpet opening of the new Netflix House, on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, at Galleria Dallas. <\/p>\n

Shafkat Anowar \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

The last Stranger Things star to appear was the youngest, Jake Connelly. Born in 2012, four years before the show debuted, Connelly became a breakout star in the fifth season as Derek, a bully turned ally. He worked the red carpet in a natty burgundy-and-black suit with a bow tie, and he had that child-actor way of making ordinary sentences sound adorable. \u201cI gotta say, I would love to be Dustin,\u201d he responded, when I asked who else he\u2019d like to play. Dustin is one of the four boys at the heart of the show\u2019s drama, a lovable oddball brought to life by Gaten Matarazzo.<\/p>\n

I asked each of the Stranger Things cast members about their Netflix guilty pleasure. Buono was hooked on the soapy Texas-based drama The Hunting Wives<\/a>, Chrest was a fan of the coming-of-age comedy Big Mouth and Connelly taught me about a 2023 animated sequel. \u201cI gotta say, my favorite movie of all time, it\u2019s kind of a weird one, is Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget.\u201d Adorable.<\/p>\n

\"Jake<\/p>\n

Jake Connelly, who plays Derek Turnbow on “Stranger Things,” poses during red carpet opening of the new Netflix House, on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, at Galleria Dallas. <\/p>\n

Shafkat Anowar \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

\u2018Love Is Blind,\u2019 \u2018Selling Sunset\u2019 and Michael Irvin, too<\/p>\n

The talent roster for the red carpet was chockablock with bold-face names, and I couldn\u2019t have been the only sucker hectically scanning the stapled cheat sheet to figure out if these folks were from Squid Game: The Challenge (siblings Jeffrey and Perla Figuereo) or Love Is Blind (Season 8 couple Daniel and Taylor Hastings and Season 4 couple Brett Brown and Tiffany Pennywell, a Houston native who attended University of North Texas).<\/p>\n

I had no trouble identifying Christine Quinn from the real-estate reality show Selling Sunset. She sauntered in like a Barbie doll on stilettos, with the crimson lipstick and long platinum waves of a golden-age Hollywood vixen. <\/p>\n

\"Christine<\/p>\n

Christine Quinn from “Selling Sunset” poses during red carpet opening of the new Netflix House, on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, at Galleria Dallas. <\/p>\n

Shafkat Anowar \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

Quinn recently moved from Los Angeles to the Dallas area. \u201cA lot of people don\u2019t know I\u2019m from Texas originally,\u201d she said. \u201cI went to Southlake Carroll.\u201d <\/p>\n

When I asked where she headed for a girls\u2019 night out, she told me, \u201cI\u2019m a Billy Bob\u2019s sloppy drunk. Jell-O shots? Absolutely love that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael Irvin<\/a> served as the evening\u2019s unofficial finale in a camel-colored turtleneck with a sharp plaid suit, fly as ever. Jada McLean and Claire Wolford, two Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders<\/a> (technically alumni, but whatever), shimmied their pompoms on either side of Irvin as he posed for the camera. The cheerleaders skipped the media line, but Irvin dived in. <\/p>\n

\u201cI got some stranger things that no one knows about,\u201d he told me, smiling and nodding at his own joke. Stranger Things: The Playmaker Years does have a nice ring. Irvin\u2019s current guilty pleasure on Netflix is Squid Game, by the way, but he can\u2019t figure out why the guy who won in Season 1 came back again in Season 2. Maaan, that\u2019s crazy.<\/p>\n

\"Dallas<\/p>\n

Dallas Cowboys Hall of Fame wide receiver Michael Irvin poses with Cowboys Cheerleaders Claire Wolford and Jada McLean during red carpet opening of the new Netflix House, on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, at Galleria Dallas. <\/p>\n

Shafkat Anowar \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

Reeling in the crowds<\/p>\n

Outside the exclusive red-carpet room, the party was hopping. Hundreds of guests angled for couches in the dining area, munching on pickle pizza or grilled cheese or sliders or (my favorite) tater tots drizzled in aioli. <\/p>\n

Most celebrities were gone by the time I made it out there, but a few had stuck around. The Love Is Blind couples were chatting as a group (but were they compatible?), and the female duo from the romantic drama Virgin River unwound in a booth. Alexandra Breckenridge and Zibby Allen had walked the red carpet as a pair, goofy and giggly in a way you can only be when you\u2019re best friends. <\/p>\n

\"Alexandra<\/p>\n

Alexandra Breckenridge (left) and Zibby Allen from “Virgin River” pose during red carpet opening of the new Netflix House, on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, at Galleria Dallas. <\/p>\n

Shafkat Anowar \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d never done a red carpet with her,\u201d Allen told me, placing a hand on Breckenridge\u2019s shoulder. The two are so close they co-host a podcast, I Like You Very Much, and unlike many actors roped into these awkward interactions, they seemed to be having fun. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe were!\u201d Breckenridge said. <\/p>\n

I\u2019ve never seen Virgin River (confession: I\u2019d never heard of Virgin River), but watching those two women crack each other up made me want to. Netflix House may be a bold new venture, but celebrities are still one of the best ways to reel in the crowds.<\/p>\n

\"Joel<\/a>Life for Santa at Dallas\u2019 NorthPark mall: Tough questions, complicated family dynamics<\/a><\/p>\n

It may seem easy to don a velvety red suit and give a big belly laugh, but playing Santa is studded with landmines.<\/p>\n

\"Actor<\/a>Hepola: Charlie Sheen hosts a charity gala in an airplane hangar. How could I not go?<\/a><\/p>\n

North Texas-based Stella Jets brings the \u201cicon of decadence\u201d to town for a \u201990s-themed toy drive with appearances by Twista, Dallas Cowboys and a \u2018Beverly Hills, 90210\u2019 star.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stranger Things\u2019 David Harbour waltzed into the room like a dashing protagonist, hamming for the photographers with ease.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":84678,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[6980,102,32536,104,103,12605,6765,40700,1637,952,2819],"class_list":["post-84677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-celebrities","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-cowboys-cheerleaders","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news","tag-high-profile","tag-malls","tag-michael-irvin","tag-movies","tag-retail","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84677\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}