Stranger Things has been teasing a major twist in Hopper’s backstory for years, but season 5 is the show’s last chance to reveal the truth. One of the most popular characters in Stranger Things, David Harbour’s Jim Hopper has always had delightful depth. Hawkins’ police chief has deep scars after the death of his daughter, Sara. Haunted and broken because of his past, Hopper’s own experience of loss meant he cared deeply about Will’s disappearance in season 1, and ultimately became an adopted father to Eleven.
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Hopper’s past makes him a deeply empathetic character, someone viewers care greatly about. Those scars, and the fear of being wounded again, meant it took Jim a long time to open up to others and admit what he’d gone through; he’s naturally secretive, purely as a self-defense mechanism. Surprisingly, even now there are subtle hints that Hopper is holding a terrible secret back – one that has the potential to rewrite his relationship with the rest of the Stranger Things stars.
Hopper Has a Deeper Tie to Hawkins Lab
The clues began in Stranger Things season 2, in flashbacks that showed Hopper’s grief for his daughter, Sara. In one striking scene, Hopper was shown collapsing in heartbreak on a stairwell. What most viewers did not notice, though, was that this same stairwell appeared later in the season – it’s the same one where Eleven and Hopper found a badly wounded Dr. Owens when they broke into Hawkins Lab to close the Gate. At first this seemed like nothing more than a coincidence, a reusing of the same set, but David Harbour himself hinted it might be much more.
Speaking to Business Insider, Harbour confirmed it’s the same location. “But there’s actually another thing you’ll notice,” he added, stirring the pot. “There’s a stuffed animal lion that appears in Eleven’s room when he breaks into the lab and finds that room… and it also appears on Sara’s lap. So yes, there is a connection there perhaps that we may go into further down the line. Again these are little things that highlight mysteries that I don’t want to give too much away from, but I don’t think anything is done randomly in this show.”
The implications are clear; that Hopper’s daughter, Sara, actually died at Hawkins Lab. If this is right, it’s possible everything that has happened has been terrifyingly personal for Jim Hopper, and that his investigations at Hawkins Lab saw him returning to the site of his greatest loss. Eleven’s relationship will Hopper is subtly redefined, too, because she is literally the daughter given to him by Hawkins Lab – the place where he lost his first daughter. The Lab gives, and the Lab takes away.
Stranger Things Season 4 Subtly Made This More Likely
Stranger Things season 4 subtly made the Hopper connections a little more likely. That notable stairwell turned up yet again in Eleven’s memories of Hawkins Lab, with Eleven seen running down it at one point. Even more curiously, Dr. Brenner reframed Hawkins Lab’s past by declaring that Eleven’s mother had attacked “a hospital” when she broke in with a gun. This single comment suggests Hawkins Lab was once a medical facility, albeit one with dark secrets lurking in the shadows – experiments already being conducted by Dr. Brenner.
The “hospital” comment makes it more likely Hopper’s daughter, Sara, did indeed die at Hawkins Lab. It’s easy to see why Hopper would hold this last detail back, unwilling to face it, simply because he’s dealing with fresh turmoil at the same site. He lost Sara here, and now so much death and destruction has spilled out into the lives of Hopper and his loved ones, all because of Hawkins Lab. Indeed, there’s a sense in which this must have felt like Hopper’s own grief reaching out to tear others apart – a sense he would have instinctively fled from.
Will Stranger Things Season 5 Finally Reveal the Truth?
Events have escalated far beyond Hawkins Lab now, of course, but the recently-released opening scenes from Stranger Things season 5 have already confirmed that the show intends to recontextualize its past. This makes sense, because it means that Stranger Things‘ final season is something of a love-letter to everything that has gone before, and it has the potential to return to plots that have long been forgotten. Hopper’s grief would be the perfect case in point.
It’s important to remember that Vecna’s powers allow him to reach into the minds of others, forcing them to confront repressed pain. Given that’s the case, Vecna could easily use Hopper’s last secrets against his enemy, forcing Jim to fully confront the loss he suffered at Hawkins Lab and admit this messy, confused truth to Eleven. It would bring Stranger Things full circle in such a powerful way, but it remains to be seen whether the show will take this direction – or whether there are now simply too many other ideas in play.
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