Characters and couples research

Active source

6. the Steve factor — both are connected to Steve in different ways, but in this project he is not written as a romantic triangle to Ronance. He is family to Robin, loving past to Nancy, and a loss that generates healing, friendship-first, queer awakening, and a love capable of containing a third person without erasing him.

Numbers:

Fanlore notes that through late May 2024, Ronance was the fourth-largest ship in the Stranger Things fandom on AO3, and the largest femslash there. [7]
The same page also notes that in 2022 it was the fifth-most-popular ship on Tumblr. [7]
On AO3, as of the screenshot accessible through the search tags as of 17.04.2026, very clear sub-readings of the fandom are visible — for example:
- Nancy Wheeler Has a Crush on Robin Buckley — 400 works
- Bisexual Nancy Wheeler — 184
- Robin Buckley Has a Crush on Nancy Wheeler — 136
- First Kiss — 57
- Hurt/Comfort — 42 [9] This isn't "proof" of what's true in canon, but it does say what the collective imagination loves to do with them.

Another important point: Natalia Dyer said in a Tudum interview that she has seen the Ronance memes, and that she and the rest of the cast have a thread where they send memes about the ship. She also said explicitly that she likes the idea of Nancy with a girlfriend. [2] In other words: The fandom didn't invent this out of nothing. The cast is aware, enjoys it, and recognizes that this pair works on screen.

Provenance & technical details

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Revision history (1)

Revision 1 · 2026-09-06T18:47:12.694Z