Stranger Things Star David Harbour Thought Series “Was Going to Be a Disaster”

Stranger Things first premiered back in 2016, and no one could have predicted that it would become such a cultural phenomenon. The show just debuted its fourth season, and it dominated the streaming charts. The show’s upcoming fifth season will be its last, but its likely there will be some spin-off shows down the line. Stranger Things may be a huge hit, but there was one person who wasn’t always confident that it would be successful. David Harbour (Jim Hopper) recently spoke with BBC’s The One Show and admitted he didn’t have much faith back when they were filming the first season.

“I remember when we were shooting the first season. We were down in Atlanta, Netflix had given us a budget of about $20,” Harbour joked. “Halfway through I remember my hair person coming up to me, like about episode four we were shooting, and she was like, ‘I don’t think it’s gonna work.’” He added, “By the time we finished, we wrapped, I thought we wouldn’t get a second season, we’d be the first Netflix show kind of ever to never get a second season … We thought no one would watch it, it was going to be a disaster.”

Recently, Harbour spoke to GQ about Hopper and suggested which actor could play the younger version of him. Harbour said he feels like his character “can exist independent” of him now and he’d love for someone else to try.

“At this point, I think Hopper is a character that can exist independent of me,” Harbour said. “If they wanna go back in time, forward in time… I’d love to see another actor play Hopper and see what they can bring to it.” The actor later followed up with the outlet via email and suggested Euphoria star Jacob Elordi as a younger version of the character, noting, “He could pull off being as handsome as I was at 20.”

Stranger Things 4 stars Winona Ryder (Joyce Byers), David Harbour (Jim Hopper), Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven/Jane), Finn Wolfhard (Mike Wheeler), Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin Henderson), Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas Sinclair), Noah Schnapp (Will Byers), Sadie Sink (Max Mayfield), Natalia Dyer (Nancy Wheeler), Charlie Heaton (Jonathan Byers), Joe Keery (Steve Harrington), Maya Hawke (Robin Buckley), Priah Ferguson (Erica Sinclair), Brett Gelman (Murray), Matthew Modine (Dr. Brenner), Robert Englund (Victor Creel), and Jamie Campbell Bower (Vecna/Henry/One). 

Stranger Things Season 4 – Volume 2 is now streaming on Netflix.