David Harbour has revealed he wasn’t entirely satisfied with how much time his character Jim Hopper received in the Stranger Things finale.
Harbour’s Finale Ideas
Although the long‑running fan favorite closed out the series with an emotional reunion alongside Winona Ryder’s Joyce Byers, the actor says he had hoped for a few more character moments before the show wrapped for good.
Speaking on On The Go with Deadline, Harbour explained that he would have liked Hopper to share final scenes with Eleven [Millie Bobby Brown] and Mike Wheeler [Finn Wolfhard. He even joked that he had “fan‑fiction” ideas in his head that didn’t fit the Duffers’ ending.
He said, “I wanted even a scene with Joe Keery. But stories have to end in a certain way and they don’t get to go on and do whatever fan fiction I’m writing in my head.”
Harbour also admitted he’d hoped for at least one last moment with Joe Keery’s Steve Harrington. However, he accepted that the story had to land where the writers intended.
Reflecting on Finale
He was joined at a special Stranger Things 5 event at Hollywood Forever Cemetery by castmates. This included Jamie Campbell Bower [Vecna], Noah Schnapp [Will Byers], and Natalie Dyer [Nancy Wheeler], along with producer Shawn Levy and creators Matt and Ross Duffer. The group reflected on filming the final season. The Duffers called the basement Dungeons and Dragons scene the most emotional moment to write and shoot. Schnapp agreed, describing the day as “a culmination of 10 years” that he still remembers vividly.
The cast also shared memories from their final days on set. Dyer called her rooftop sequence a “core memory” she’ll carry for life.
Envying the Younger Cast
Harbour recently admitted he envied the younger cast for their ability to stay relaxed on camera. He even joked that their willingness to “fart during takes” was a level of comfort he wished he had.
He quipped at an event in Los Angeles, “These kids were just enjoyable as hell.”
“A lot of kid actors that you work with are very actor-y, and part of the strength of the actors that they formed were that, at their essence, they were just kids.”
“So, even during takes, they would fart and do things that you just couldn’t believe that you had the relaxation to do that in front of a camera. I was like, I would dream of being able to do that and not being self-conscious in that way!”