Five months ago, "Stranger Things" actor Charlie Heaton got sent straight back to his native Britain after authorities at Los Angeles International Airport allegedly discovered trace amounts of cocaine in his luggage after he landed on a flight from London.
Though he later issued a statement explaining that he'd been "affected by an issue at U.S. immigration" and that he "was not arrested or charged with a crime," the drama still caused him to miss the Season 2 red carpet premiere of his hit Netflix show.
Charlie, 24, was recently photographed back in L.A., where he's prepping to shoot Season 3 of "Stranger Things," E! News reports. He's also spoken out about the incident and its aftermath in an interview with Flaunt magazine.
Charlie was miserable over the media attention he received in the wake of the airport drug allegations. "It was f—ing awful. It was just awful," he told Flaunt in a story published on March 9.
He confirmed that he is indeed welcome in the States again. "Yeah, it's all sorted now. We go back [to the set] in April so I plan to go back to America next month, and yes, I can go back."
"It was hard," he explained. "Everything happened so fast, and I hadn't come to terms with the fact that I was famous. When something steps in from the work you are doing and breaks into your personal life… you feel kind of vulnerable. All of a sudden it becomes a very big story and it gets really blown out of proportion."
Despite the difficult episode, he added, "at the end of the day I just wanted to go back. I want to work and continue to work — that's all I've ever done."
While spending the last several months in England, Charlie and "Stranger Things" co-star Natalia Dyer, 21, made their first red carpet appearance as a couple in London in December. The public show of affection came almost a year after the actors were first romantically linked.