One of Stranger Things‘s foundational relationships could have looked completely different if creators Matt and Ross Duffer had gotten their initial dream cast.
David Harbour, who plays Chief Jim Hopper, the father of Millie Bobby Brown’s Eleven in the sci-fi Netflix behemoth, was not originally supposed to be in the show at all, the Duffer Brothers revealed on a new episode of the Happy, Sad, Confused podcast on Monday.
Harbour, 51, who was twice Emmy-nominated for his role as Chief Hopper, confronted the creators himself via a pre-recorded interview question.
“I would like to know the casting process of Hopper,” the actor said. “I’m pretty sure I was second choice, and I don’t know who I was second choice to. Maybe I was third choice—but would you please answer the question of how I came to be cast as Chief Hopper, and who had to say ‘No’ to allow me to do that wonderful, incredible role?” he asked.
Ross, 42, responded first, “I can’t believe he wants us to say this. I believe we did go out to someone prior to David. Someone who had been less of—just a supporting actor.”
“I haven’t told him that this is one of his good friends,” Matt, 42, added.
Josh Horiwitz, the podcast host, said Harbour had speculated that the role was initially offered to Josh Brolin.
“No, no, no, no, no, no,” Matt denied. “No, it was Billy Crudup, which is a very different—everything happens for a reason, right? So it’s like, once it kind of clicks into place. But yeah, Billy Crudup passed. I don’t think he was doing much TV at the time.”
Habour and Crudup, 57, who both have extensive resumes in the New York theater scene, met on Broadway in 2006 while starring opposite one another in The Coast of Utopia. They then worked together again for the 2011 film, Thin Ice.
When Stranger Things premiered in 2016, Crudup had been in the midst of a four-year TV acting break, instead taking film roles in Spotlight and 20th Century Women. Soon after Stranger Things began streaming, Crudup joined Apple TV’s The Morning Show, for which he won two Emmy Awards.
According to the Duffer Brothers, everything worked out in the end.
“And then David just, honestly, he just came in and one of our casting directors thought he could be great for the role,” Ross added. “He came and read, and he just did one take. We weren’t even there, we just saw the tape, and it was just so clear, instantly: this is Hopper. And we just cast him right then and there.”
Harbour played Chief Hopper for all five seasons of Stranger Things, starring opposite Brown, 22, and Winona Ryder. While he had a lengthy filmography before the show, his role in Stranger Things launched him to stardom, securing him blockbuster roles in Hellboy and Marvel’s Thunderbolts.
In November, The Daily Mail reported that Brown had filed a “harassment and bullying claim” against the actor in advance of the show’s record-breaking fifth season, but she has since shot down any such claims.
“Of course, I felt safe, I mean, we’ve worked together for 10 years,” she said in November. “We also play father and daughter, so naturally, we have a closer bond than the rest because we have had some really intense scenes together.”
