The fate of Sheriff Hopper is soon to be decided. Netflix today released a video showing the cast of Stranger Things reuniting for a table read of the show’s fourth season. This follows the previous release of a teaser confirming that Hopper is alive in Russia after his sacrifice in the show’s third season. David Harbour returns as Hopper, along with fellow cast members Winona Ryder, Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Noah Schnapp, Sadie Sink, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Joe Keery, Maya Hawke, Priah Ferguson, and Cara Buono. Series creators the Duffer brothers are executive producer along with Shawn Levy, Dan Cohen, and Iain Paterson.
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Harbour did his best to keep his character’s future a secret before his return was revealed in the new teaser. Even he seemed unsure of what was to come.
“So [creators Matt and Ross Duffer] told me the arc of the season, and then I think we got Episode Eight like a couple months before we shot it,” Harbour said in an interview. “And I remember reading that episode, and they hadn’t told me this whole thing about this Russian facility at the end and how that was gonna be the sort of teaser and like ‘The American’ and the Demogorgon. They hadn’t told me about any of that, actually, and I just read it in the script and I thought it was amazing… And I really thought I was ‘The American,’ and then I haven’t heard a lot from them,” the actor confessed. “So I really don’t know if I am. But I thought I was, but it was never discussed. I didn’t ask [The Duffers], ’cause I felt confident I was — and now I’m not so confident.”
“I think Hopper — from the very beginning I’ve said this — he’s very lovable in a certain way, but also, he’s kind of a rough guy,” Harbour said at a convention appearance at German Comic Con Dortmund. “Certainly in the beginning of Season 1 he’s kind of dark, and he’s drinking, and he’s trying to kill himself, and he hates himself for what happened to his daughter. I feel like, in a sense, that character needed to die. He needed to make some sacrifice to make up for the way he’s been living for the past like 10 years, the resentments that he’s had. So he needed to die.”
“Now whether or not there is this second act, whether or not there is some sort of resurrection, whether or not we can see him go off in a certain way, would be really interesting to me. I would love it. Anybody watch Lord of the Rings? Gandalf the Grey fights the Balrog, descends into darkness, battles him forever, and everyone thinks he’s dead. And then he re-emerges as Gandalf the White, with sort of a new strength and a new power. That would be an interesting arc for him.”
Are you excited about Stranger Things 4? Let us know in the comments section. Netflix has not revealed a premiere date for the new season.
