What The NeverEnding Story Cast Looks Like Today

The 1980s was a great decade for movies of all kinds, but one of the most dominant genres was fantasy. While the decade provided many memorable fantasy flicks, 1984's "The NeverEnding Story" is easily one of the best. The film tells a wonderful tale about a young boy named Bastian (Barret Oliver) who finds solace in the escape provided by books. One book in particular changes everything for him: Bastian becomes part of the story while reading the titular tome.

Throughout the film, its hero, Atreyu (Noah Hathaway), travels across Fantasia in search of a means of stopping The Nothing, a force wiping out his world. Along the way, he meets all kinds of fantastical creatures and people, each played by one brilliant actor after another. The film stars several talented performers, many of whom went on to have outstanding acting careers. Here's what each member of the cast did after the film wrapped.

Yes, that is an updated picture of Barret Oliver you see on the right. Oliver is now a photographic historian who specializes in 19th Century photographic technology and literally wrote the book on the Woodburytype printing process of that era, so his public portrait reflects the sepia tones of his trade. The former child star got his big Hollywood break by way of playing the wonderfully curious scamp Bastian Bux in "The NeverEnding Story," but he went on to claim starring roles in Tim Burton's 1984 short film "Frankenweenie," 1985's family sci-fi film "D.A.R.Y.L.," and Ron Howard's "Cocoon."

Oliver stepped away from the spotlight to pursue his more academic interests after 1989's "Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills." However, his experience appearing in front of the cameras has since come in handy, since he starred in a 2012 short film about his craft, called "In the Usual Manner."

Atreyu is something of a comeback kid in "The NeverEnding Story" — he endures the depressing death of his horse and still manages to battle back the forces of existential destruction. His real-life counterpart, Noah Hathaway, had already made something of a name for himself before he became the fabled hero of the movie. His prior credits included 1978's "Battlestar Galactica" and its TV follow-up, as well as appearances on a ton of then-popular shows like "Mork & Mindy," "CHiPs," "Eight Is Enough," and "Laverne & Shirley." However, he quit the business after starring in 1986's "Troll" because, he told The News Tribune, he "just wanted to drop off the radar and be a regular human being" for a while.

After his career as a child star, Hathaway worked in finance and tattoo artistry. He decided to return to the business in 2012 when he landed a role in "Sushi Girl." Hathaway's comeback didn't amount to many roles, but he did manage to reprise the one that made him famous. In 2016, Hathaway appeared in a Spotify commercial, reprising his role from "The NeverEnding Story." In the commercial, Falcor flies over the clouds as Atreyu rides upon his back in a more bearded form than fans may remember. As Limahl's theme from the movie plays, Atreyu remarks that he can't believe people still listen to the song, and Falcor agrees as they soar across the sky.

The Childlike Empress might have relied on the boy(s) in her life to give her a name, but Tami Stronach has no such identity crisis. The actor had no screen experience to speak of when she nabbed the role, and she explained to SlashFilm it was actually something of a "fluke" that she was offered the movie in the first place. Although she's had a few other credits since, Stronach's current occupation and passion is professional dancing. She studied dance in college and graduate school and now runs her own company in New York. Her decision to pursue a mostly non-Hollywood life was intentional.

"I really love dancing," Stronach explained. "I made a decision that I would throw myself into dance and that if I really missed acting, I would return to it as an adult when I was in charge of my life and I wasn't upsetting my parents, who both had really active full careers and couldn't just give over all their time to pursue being my manager." That's exactly what she did. Stronach ended up frequenting the stage for several years and helped develop the Paper Canoe Company, which performs plays across the country, when she started to miss the acting business.

In more recent years, she and her husband, Greg Steinbruner, have tapped into the growing nostalgia surrounding "The NeverEnding Story." This came about after Limahl's song from the film played a prominent part in an episode of "Stranger Things." The couple developed "Man and Witch: The Dance of a Thousand Steps," a throwback fantasy film that features many popular 1980s actors, including Sean Astin and Christopher Lloyd. "This film is full of nostalgia for fans of classic '80s fantasy," Stronach told Deadline ahead of the film's planned release in 2024.

Deep Roy is one of those character actors who's appeared in dozens of movies and TV series, though most people didn't know his name for years. His career began in the 1970s, and the Kenyan-borne actor soon found himself playing characters in everything from "The Muppet Movie" and "Flash Gordon" to "Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back" and "The Dark Crystal." He soon took on the role of Teeny Weeny in "The NeverEnding Story," nearly a decade after he began working in the business.

Roy has continued working in Hollywood since he appeared in "The NeverEnding Story," playing various characters on the sidelines or in the background while also working as a stunt performer. Eventually, people started noticing the actor's talent regardless of whatever makeup or costume he found himself in, and he's become a well-known and sought-after character actor.

Roy plays Keenser in the rebooted "Star Trek" franchise (his last feature film was 2016's "Star Trek Beyond"), but he is probably best known these days for portraying every Oompa-Loompa in Tim Burton's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." He learned how to play guitar for the movie's Queen homage, but it wasn't all fun and games. "They put me on a special diet," Roy told The New Yorker. "I love beer, but beer is full of carbs and all that. They measured me every week so that I didn't gain weight."

German actor Tilo Prückner would hardly be recognizable to those who saw him in "The NeverEnding Story," since so much makeup work went into becoming his character, the Night Hob. However, Prückner has been acting in films and television for decades and has over 200 credits to his name, since he got his start all the way back in the late '60s. Most of his work has been on the European circuit — and "The NeverEnding Story" was no exception to that rule, as it was filmed primarily in director Wolfgang Petersen's native West Germany. Prückner continued acting for decades, racking up film and television credits in his native country. He worked right up to the end, appearing in a feature film, TV movie, and two series shortly before he died on July 2, 2020, at the age of 79.

Gerald McRaney's turn as Bastian's dad in "The NeverEnding Story" was brief, but the actor has enjoyed a lot more screen time in his subsequent projects. McRaney had developed quite a small screen résumé before landing the small supporting role in the movie, and he's since continued to thrive on television. Most notably, he starred in "Simon & Simon" for eight seasons before becoming the titular father figure in the hit sitcom "Major Dad." He also enjoyed regular roles on "Touched by an Angel," "Promised Land," "Deadwood," and "Jericho."

McRaney continued expanding his small screen stature by appearing in various high-profile programs. He earned a nomination from the Screen Actors Guild for his work in "House of Cards" and took home a Primetime Emmy Award for playing Dr. Nathan Katowski on "This Is Us." It was his first nomination, but he had hosted at the Emmys before so he was familiar with how it all worked, McRaney told GoldDerby. "What I didn't expect was my wife's reaction to it," he said. "I've never seen anything like it. I refer to it as projectile crying."

The voice actor responsible for most of the memorable non-human characters in "The NeverEnding Story," including The Rockbiter, Falkor, and G'mork, was Alan Oppenheimer, who's had an illustrious career in front of the mic and the camera. His screen appearance credits include "Hogan's Heroes" and an Emmy-nominated guest role on "Murphy Brown," but his voice credits are far more numerous. He's perhaps best known for his work on "Flash Gordon," "Ghostbusters," "The Legend of Prince Valiant," and "The Transformers." His most recent role was in 2022 when he voiced King Grayskull in three episodes of Netflix's "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe."

By the time Sydney Bromley starred as the punchy gnome scientist Engywook and helped Atreyu pass the through the Riddle Gate to reach the Southern Oracle, he was already four decades into his career. The actor, who'd previously starred in "Dragonslayer," "An American Werewolf in London," and many, many other films and TV shows, would count "The NeverEnding Story" as one of his final film projects. Bromley passed away in 1987 at the age of 78. He was also mourned in the theater world, where he had a reputation "as a formidable interpreter of eccentric Shakespearian roles," said Classic Movie Hub, adding that he was "Always highly distinctive."

Thomas Hill, who portrayed the all-knowing librarian Carl Conrad Coreander in "The NeverEnding Story" and the 1990 sequel "The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter," made a number of TV and film appearances throughout the course of his career. He made his debut as a liquor salesman in the 1965 drama film "The Slender Thread" and he landed the role of Ted Marlowe on the TV series "Flipper" soon after.

Hill went on to play the likes of Archer in 1971's "McCabe & Mrs. Miller" and General Brown in 1982's "Firefox," a Clint Eastwood vehicle. Away from Carl Conrad Coreander, his most famous character is that of Jim Dixon (Chester's best friend) in "Newhart," who he played 33 times between 1982 and 1990. His final role was that of John Barham in a 1993 episode of "Law & Order." Hill passed away in 2009 at the age of 81.

Actor Moses Gunn was already a critically acclaimed performer before he suited up as the empress' champion Cairon in "The NeverEnding Story." Gunn transcended genre to work in projects ranging from "Little House on the Prairie" to "Firestarter" and "Shaft." Perhaps his most acclaimed role was that of as Kintango (the leader of a secret African society) in "Roots," which led to him getting an Emmy nomination. His career continued to thrive until he passed away in 1993 at the age of 64.

Urgl, the other cantankerous gnome who helps guide Atreyu on his journey, was played by Patricia Hayes, a prolific British actress who'd been working in the business for almost 50 years prior to making the movie. Her notable credits included "A Fish Called Wanda," "Willow," and TV's "Till Death Do Us Part." Hayes passed away in 1998 at the age of 88. "She had been in the nursing home for a while and died very peacefully," her son, Richard O'Callaghan, told the BBC. "All her family were with her when she passed away."