David Harbour has been acting professionally for over two decades—he was nominated for a Tony in 2005—but his big break came with Stranger Things. Harbour’s portrayal of Sheriff Jim Hopper immediately endeared him to viewers, and over the show’s run we’ve seen Hawkins, Indiana’s top cop morph from boozy sad sack to strict but loving dad to supernatural beastie-fighting hero to Siberian prison escapee, plus a little romantic tension with Winona Ryder’s character on the side.
And since Stranger Things‘ debut in 2016, Harbour has parlayed his Netflix success to other starring roles; while his Hellboy was a bust, he also created a whole new kind of Santa Claus in the excellent Violent Night and entered the Marvel Cinematic Universe via Black Widow and Thunderbolts. He’s also found success on the DC side too, starring in animated series Creature Commandos.
While it doesn’t seem like Stranger Things‘ filming schedule has held him back from adding to his filmography, he’s clearly ready for the freedom he’ll have once the show has aired its final batch of episodes. His schedule will be more open to new projects, of course, but he’ll also be able to put Jim Hopper to bed for good.
In an Interview Magazine chat with Scarlett Johansson, his co-star in Black Widow, he sounded grateful but weary.
“When I started I loved it so much. Buddies of mine who’d done TV shows for many years said, ‘By season three or four you’ll be running.’ And I was like, Never! I love all these guys so much,’” he recalled. “And then you get to a certain point where you’re like, ‘How much more story is there?’ You’re having to play a lot of the same beat, and there’s a feeling where you’re like, ‘I want to take a risk. I want to do something that people haven’t seen me do before.’ So yeah, after 10 years, it’s like, ‘Okay.’”
Later, he elaborated more on what it felt like to be so committed to Jim Hopper, in response to Johansson speaking about being locked into her Marvel character for months at a time and not feeling challenged (or able to change anything about her appearance).
“There’d be certain seasons where you feel like, ‘I’m going to go in this different direction.’ But … a piece of your psyche is occupied with this group of people and this storyline,” he said. “I don’t paint my nails, but I get that idea of ‘I can’t get a haircut’ or ‘I can’t shave this freaking mustache.’”
One of the post-Stranger Things Harbour projects we’re most excited for is the Violent Night sequel, which Variety reported today just got a release date of December 4, 2026.
Stranger Things returns November 26 to Netflix for the first four episodes of season five. The rest of the season rolls out December 25 (episodes 5-7) and December 31 (episode 8).
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