{"id":29718,"date":"2026-08-17T10:30:47","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T14:30:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/?p=29718"},"modified":"2026-08-17T12:09:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T16:09:19","slug":"stranger-things-star-joe-chrest-named-2026-homecoming-grand-marshal-80s-mysteries-theme-announced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/2026\/08\/stranger-things-star-joe-chrest-named-2026-homecoming-grand-marshal-80s-mysteries-theme-announced\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Stranger Things\u2019 star Joe Chrest named 2026 Homecoming grand marshal, \u201980s mysteries theme announced"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>Marshall University is excited to welcome home Joe Chrest, a 1986 graduate and star of the hit Netflix series \u201cStranger Things,\u201d who will serve as grand marshal for the university\u2019s 2026 Homecoming activities the week of Sept. 21 through Sept. 26.<\/p>\n<p>Highlighting his role as grand marshal, Chrest will lead the Homecoming parade at 6 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 25. The parade is part of a full week of activities for this year\u2019s Homecoming, \u201c\u201980s Echoes: Come Back Curious.\u201d The theme honors Chrest\u2019s years at Marshall and draws inspiration from the nostalgic world of 1980s mysteries, as often referenced in \u201cStranger Things.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are thrilled to welcome Joe back to campus to serve as our Homecoming grand marshal,\u201d said Walker Tatum, director of alumni engagement. \u201cWe believe Joe embodies the spirit of Marshall through his accomplishments, humility and continued love for his alma mater. We cannot wait to celebrate him this fall, and we\u2019re equally excited to recognize him with a theme that marks his time at Marshall in the 1980s while praising his accomplishments through a series influenced by the pop culture of the era.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Chrest, a native of St. Albans, West Virginia, received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in directing from Marshall, and a Master of Fine Arts from Louisiana State University.<\/p>\n<p>Along with Chrest\u2019s role as Ted Wheeler in \u201cStranger Things,\u201d he has appeared in major films including \u201c21 Jump Street,\u201d \u201c22 Jump Street,\u201d \u201cAnt-Man\u201d and \u201cThe Hunger Games: Mockingjay \u2013 Part 2,\u201d along with dozens of other television and film productions.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to Chrest\u2019s work as an actor, he is also an adjunct professor at the School of Theatre in Louisiana State\u2019s College of Music and Dramatic Arts.<\/p>\n<p>Chrest will participate in other events on and around campus leading up to the Homecoming football game against Gardner-Webb University on Saturday, Sept. 26. Other highlights of Homecoming week include the Unity Walk on Monday, Sept. 21, and the Marshall University Alumni Association and Marshall University Black Alumni\u2019s tailgate on Sept. 26.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Marshall University is excited to welcome home Joe Chrest, a 1986 graduate and star of the hit Netflix series \u201cStranger Things,\u201d who will serve as grand marshal for the university\u2019s 2026 Homecoming activities the week of Sept. 21 through Sept. 26. Highlighting his role as grand marshal, Chrest will lead the Homecoming parade at 6 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":239,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cam","category-news-releases"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/239"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29718"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29718\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29721,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29718\/revisions\/29721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}