Joe Keery Riding the Subway Feels Remarkably Ordinary — And That May Be the Point

For someone who has spent a decade appearing in one of the most recognizable television series in the world, Joe Keery can look remarkably ordinary when he is away from a red carpet.

That contrast was at the heart of a photograph that began circulating widely online, described by fans as showing the Stranger Things actor riding the New York City subway.

There was no carefully staged entrance, no limousine waiting at the curb and no visible entourage surrounding him.

Instead, the man identified online as Keery appeared to be doing exactly what millions of New Yorkers do every week: sitting on a train, wearing headphones, looking at his phone and waiting to reach his destination.

The image quickly became the kind of celebrity photograph that social media loves.

People were amused that a star associated with one of Netflix's biggest franchises would apparently choose public transportation. Others were far less surprised. Their reaction was essentially: of course he takes the subway. He lives in New York.

That second response may actually tell us more about the story.

Because while a famous actor riding public transportation can look unusual when viewed through the mythology of Hollywood celebrity, in New York City it can also be one of the most practical things a person can do.

And Joe Keery's life has increasingly become connected to the city.

From Hawkins to New York

Most viewers still know Keery first as Steve Harrington, the former high-school heartthrob who evolved into one of the most popular characters on Stranger Things.

Netflix officially lists Keery among the core cast of the series, which concluded with its fifth and final season after nearly a decade. Steve's development became one of the show's most recognizable character arcs: he began as the confident boyfriend of Nancy Wheeler and gradually became a loyal protector of the younger characters, particularly Dustin Henderson.

That role transformed Keery's career.

Before Stranger Things, he was a young actor trying to establish himself after graduating from The Theatre School at DePaul University in Chicago in 2014. DePaul itself lists Keery among its notable alumni and identifies him as both an actor and musician.

When Stranger Things premiered in 2016, few could have predicted how enormous it would become.

The show developed into an international pop-culture phenomenon, turning its young cast into globally recognizable figures and creating an entire franchise around the fictional Indiana town of Hawkins.

Keery's Steve Harrington became particularly popular because the character changed so dramatically. Steve went from a seemingly conventional teenage antagonist to someone whose courage, humor and unexpectedly protective personality made him central to the show's ensemble.

By the final season, Netflix was still describing Steve as the group's “ultimate babysitter,” a reference to the role he had gradually adopted over years of dangerous encounters with creatures from the Upside Down.

Yet acting is only one part of Keery's career.

And his second career has made the contrast between celebrity and ordinary city life even more interesting.

Joe Keery Is Also Djo

For listeners who discovered the song “End of Beginning” before learning anything about the person who recorded it, there can be a surprising moment of realization.

Djo is Joe Keery.

The actor has been making music for years, first as part of the Chicago psychedelic-rock band Post Animal and later through his solo project.

His musical identity was initially somewhat separated from his acting fame. Entertainment Weekly has reported that Keery once performed as Djo using wigs and other disguises, allowing the music to stand apart from the enormous visibility that came with Stranger Things.

Eventually, that separation became impossible.

“End of Beginning,” a track from his 2022 album Decide, began spreading rapidly through TikTok in 2024. The song, with its nostalgic reflections on Chicago and the feeling of encountering an earlier version of yourself, became much bigger than Keery had expected.

Speaking to Rolling Stone UK during the song's first viral surge, Keery admitted that he was surprised by what was happening. What particularly interested him was how listeners had taken a very personal song about his own relationship with Chicago and applied it to their own hometowns and memories.

The song reached No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 in March 2024, according to Billboard's chart coverage.

Then, remarkably, it became even larger.

After Stranger Things ended in late 2025, “End of Beginning” experienced another enormous surge. In January 2026, it climbed to No. 1 on the Billboard Global 200 and reached a new No. 6 peak on the U.S. Hot 100. Billboard reported 80.7 million streams worldwide during the tracking week in which it topped the global chart.

The unusual part was that the song had never actually appeared in Stranger Things.

The association came from Keery himself.

By then, he had achieved the kind of dual career that is difficult to dismiss as a side project: one internationally famous television role and a music career capable of generating a global No. 1 song.

That context is what makes a photograph of him apparently sitting quietly on a subway train seem so striking to some people.

Fame creates expectations.