Stranger Things’ David Harbour thought Hopper should’ve died in season 1

By Dan Girolamo Published April 23, 2025

Imagine a world where Jim Hopper never made it past Stranger Things season 1. For David Harbour, not only did he think Hopper would die, but he expected it to happen.

In a new interview with British GQ, Hopper spoke about Stranger Things’ upcoming fifth and final season. Hopper is one of the most popular characters on the show. Yet when the show first introduces the Hawkins Police Chief, Hopper is still grieving the death of his daughter, which emotionally takes him to dark places. Harbour told GQ that he saw his character arc coming to a tragic end after one season.

“Harbour read the scripts and was convinced the first season should have ended with Hopper dying by suicide,” the profile reads. “To him, it was the only way Hopper could apologize to his daughter.” Hopper survived season 1 and became a pseudo father to Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown).

In season 3, Harbour confronted the death of his character for the second time, except this time, Hopper appeared to die after sacrificing himself to close the gate to the Upside Down. As fans eventually found out in a teaser, Hopper survived the explosion, but Russian soldiers captured him and shipped him to a prison camp in Kamchatka.

“I think they were just committed to the beauty of that moment of his death,” Harbour says about Hopper surviving the explosion. “It was so moving that I think they almost didn’t want him to be alive.”

No one, not Harbour or even Netflix, could have predicted the overwhelming success of Stranger Things. The show has become a global phenomenon, transforming Harbour and his cast members into household names. Seasons 3 and 4 are two of Netflix’s 10 most popular English-language TV shows.

Season 5 is the show’s final season and will stream later this year on Netflix.