‘Stranger Things’ Producer Teases More “Jopper” in Season 3

Stranger Things fans wanting more “Jopper” — a fan-favorite hopeful romantic pairing of old high school flames Hopper (David Harbour) and Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder) — can expect “a lot” of the two in the in-the-works season 3, according to producer Shawn Levy.

“It’s not gonna not happen,” Levy told Variety at the Emmys.

“We are fans of Jopper, we are also fans of combining strength with strength among our cast, right? So last season, season 2… that was all about Hopper and Eleven, Millie [Bobby Brown] and David, let’s see what happens if we pit them against each other. There’s a lot of Winona and David in season 3.”

Asked directly if there’s romantic sparks in the future, Levy playfully evaded the question. “You know that I can’t say anything,” he said.

Joyce was in a relationship with RadioShack manager Bob ‘the Brain’ Newby (Sean Astin), who — spoilers — met his bloody but brave end last season when he was killed by a Demodog after helping free a trapped Joyce, her son Will (Schnapp) and friend Mike (Finn Wolfhard) from a Hawkins laboratory.

“I’ve been pretty vocal about how I love the dynamic between Joyce and Hopper, which I don’t feel like we got a lot of time to explore in Season 2,” Harbour told Variety in December of the sophomore season, which put more of a focus on Hopper’s relationship with surrogate daughter Eleven.

“I just love that dynamic of these two lost people. I equate it to Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway in Chinatown or Indiana Jones and Marion in Raiders of the Lost Ark.”

Harbour said the lonely police chief’s dynamic with the frazzled single mom brings “these great, throwback, they-hate-each-other-but-love-each-other kind of tropes.”

He added the pairing is “done so sophisticatedly by [creators and executive producers the Duffer Brothers], and Winona is really game for it, too,” he said. “We love playing scenes with each other. I would love more stuff with her.”

Brown also told Variety she would “love” for Joyce and Hopper to get together. “Jopper is like my inspiration in life,” the 14-year-old star said, adding Ryder and Harbour are “like my parents.”

“And in the show, if they rekindle, that means Will and Eleven will be step-siblings,” she said. “I would love that because Noah [Schnapp] is my boy best friend.”

Netflix will debut Stranger Things season 3 summer 2019.