Claudia Henderson

* 1986
* 1985
* 1984
* 1983

**Claudia Henderson** (née **Yount**), portrayed by Catherine Curtin, is a recurring character in *Stranger Things*. She is the mother of Dustin Henderson.

## History

### 1983

Claudia briefly appeared at Will Byers's funeral, along with a man who appeared to be Walter Henderson, Dustin's father.

### 1984

On the evening of October 29, Claudia was watching television with her cat Mews as Dustin searched the couches for quarters. When Dustin asked if he could check the chair she was sitting in, she reluctantly agreed.

On Halloween morning, Claudia photographed Dustin in his *Ghostbusters* costume. Later that night, when Dustin was trying to sneak a strange creature into the house, she suspected something was wrong. Dustin tried to assure her everything was okay when his proton pack (which contained the creature) suddenly began moving, frightening her. He lied, saying that he had placed a motor in it as part of his costume.

When she was unable to find Mews, Claudia grew worried and began looking for her. Unbeknownst to her, Mews had actually been killed and partially eaten by Dart, the creature Dustin had sneaked into the house and was revealed to be a young Demogorgon. In order to hide this from her, Dustin again lied, telling her Mews had been spotted near Loch Nora.

On the evening of December 15, Claudia was sitting in the living room while Dustin prepared for the Snow Ball. She had gotten another cat to replace Mews, naming it Tews.

### 1985

On the morning of June 29, Claudia drove Dustin back home from his summer camp Camp Know Where. When they reached Hawkins, Dustin was agitated that his friends weren't responding to his message on their Supercom line, and Claudia suggested that maybe they had forgotten to answer.

### 1986

On the morning of March 21, Claudia warned Dustin that he was going to be late for school. Claudia attempted to enter his room, but Dustin made up an excuse for her to leave because he wanted his girlfriend Suzie Bingham to change his grade. On March 22, Claudia watches Beverly Moss's news report with Dustin in their home. Claudia was concerned after hearing that a student had been murdered, and stated she could not take anymore deaths that had been happening around Hawkins lately. However, after Max Mayfield visited Dustin and informed him that Eddie Munson had fled the scene of the murder, Dustin is able to convince his mother to allow him to leave.

On March 26, Claudia attended the community meeting held at the Hawkins Town Hall. The meeting was held in response to three murders that had occurred in Hawkins in the past week. When Jason Carver encouraged townspeople to hunt down members of the Hellfire Club, Claudia, along with Karen Wheeler and Sue Sinclair, expressed concern that their sons were among the individuals being targeted.

Later that night, Claudia was present at the Wheeler House as Lucas Sinclair, Dustin, and Max were being interrogated by the Hawkins police regarding Eddie's whereabouts. Claudia also watches as the three of them, along with Erica Sinclair, escape from the Wheeler house and evade the Hawkins police in order to go the Munson trailer.

## Family tree

*note: family trees are only visible on desktop.*

## Trivia

* Claudia, along with two other parents of Party members (Charles Sinclair and Sue Sinclair), had their Season 1 actors recast for Season 2. Dustin's mother, who was initially unnamed in the first season, was originally portrayed by Tabitha Kilgore in a non-speaking role, before being recast and replaced with Catherine Curtin in later seasons.
* *The First Shadow* revealed "Yount" as Claudia's maiden name.
	+ Confusingly, the website for *The First Shadow* initially listed Claudia's name as "Claudia Henderson", suggesting Henderson was Claudia's maiden name. Claudia and Walter Henderson initially seemed to be siblings, since they shared the same surname; this was apparently confirmed by an Instagram post by Walter Henderson's actor, Calum Ross.
	+ However, the website for *The First Shadow* was updated sometime in October, displaying Claudia's surname as "Yount". This suggests that Claudia and Walter are a couple after all, and that Walter is Dustin's father.
	+ If Walter is indeed Dustin's father, this likely means Walter is also the man who accompanied Claudia and Dustin to Will Byers's funeral in "The Flea and the Acrobat".

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 The Cast & Creative Page for *Stranger Things: The First Shadow*
2. ↑ Calum Ross said Claudia and Walter Henderson were "Bro and Sis" in an Instagram story