Warning: The following contains spoilers for Season 3 of Stranger Things. If you’ve yet to finish your binge, you might want to watch now, read later.
There’s no way, right? No freakin’ way could Stranger Things really have killed off David Harbour‘s beloved Chief Hopper in its Season 3 finale. That’s as unthinkable as Steve Harrington having a bad hair day!
As Jim Hopper would say, “Mornings are for coffee and contemplation” – but this morning, it’s more like hysterical crying and confusion.
Now that you’ve finished your eight-hour bingeing marathon of Stranger Things season three, you probably have a lot of questions about that electrifying finale and the fate of Jim Hopper – and we did too!
ET sat down with actor David Harbour last week at Netflix’s junket in Los Angeles to get his exclusive answers on what it was like to bring “Dad Hopper” to life, his honest reaction to the season three finale and what that mysterious post-credits scene could mean.
That being the case, I’ve come up with a way — three ways, actually — that Hop could’ve survived the blast that destroyed the Russians’ interdimensional gate opener. I know — maybe I’m grasping at straws here. But if they’re straws that let me — all of us — imagine Hop pulling through to finally get to have dinner with Joyce at Enzo’s, I’m gonna grasp away. My theories:
1. Since neither we nor Joyce saw Hop blown to smithereens — you’ll recall, she shut her eyes and turned away as she turned the keys to set off the explosion — there’s a chance that he went from tearfully gazing at her to lying flat on the ground fast enough to avoid the full brunt of the blast. If he did, that all but guarantees that he’s “the American” that the Russkies have locked up in Kamchatka, does it not?
2. If Hop isn’t “the American,” perhaps the explosion knocked him through the gate to the Upside Down before it slammed shut. I know it seems like the detonation would have sent him flying in the opposite direction, but this is the Upside Down we’re talking about. If up is down and down, up, who’s to say that forward isn’t backwards? This would also explain why, as far as we know, his body was never recovered.Stranger Things Season 3 PhotosLaunch Gallery
3. Hopper’s vanishing act is part of some plan that he and Owens concocted on the sly so that they could ensure that the Russians’ operation overseas is shut down without endangering El and Joyce. If the Russkies believed that Hop was a goner, they’d have no reason to go after his crush or his daughter to discourage his attempts to thwart them. And that sad smile that he flashed Joyce before the explosion did suggest that he might know something she didn’t — or it couldhave, anyway!
David Harbour Leaving Stranger Things Terms :stranger things,david harbour stranger things,hopper,david hopper,david harbour hellboy,hellboy,david harbour stranger things 3,stranger things 3,hopper stranger things,stranger things cast,stranger things season 3,stranger things season 3 david harbour,david harbour height,winona ryder david harbour,winona ryder,stranger things 4,david harbour weight,millie bobby brown,david harbour season 4,david harbour stranger things season 4,stranger things season 4,david harbour wife,jim hopper,david harbour 2019,david harbour actor,david harbour leaving stranger things,neverending story,is david harbour leaving stranger things,alexei stranger things,phoebe cates,hopper dies,did hopper die,alec utgoff,ethan hawke,will there be a stranger things 4,david harbour leaves stranger things,the neverending story,uma thurman,gabriella pizzolo,stranger things season 3 review,stranger things neverending story,mrs wheeler stranger things,is hopper really dead,gaten matarazzo teeth,who dies in stranger things 3,david harbour body for hellboy,day of the dead,dustin from stranger things,stranger things season 4 release date,is there going to be a stranger things 4,stranger things 3 cast,will stranger things,stranger things season 2,stranger things season 3 cast,billy stranger things,stranger things episodes,netflix stranger things,stranger things season 1,cast of stranger things,stranger things release time,stranger things 3 release time,robin stranger things,stranger things release date,stranger things season 3 release time,stranger things review,dustin stranger things,maya hawke,maya hawke stranger things,eleven stranger things,stranger things suzie actor,is hopper dead,stranger things robin actress,alexei stranger things actor,larry kline stranger things,suzie stranger things,does hopper die in stranger things 3,is hopper still alive,larry kline imdb stranger things,who played suzie in stranger things,suzie stranger things season 3,robin from stranger things,is there a stranger things 4,who plays robin in stranger things,neverending story song,stranger things 3 ending,david hopper stranger things,winona ryder stranger things,jim stranger things,dacre montgomery,david harbour age,stranger things season 3 hopper,david harbour workout,david harbour weight loss,david harbour stranger things contract,david harbour hellboy workout,stranger things hopper dies,hopper weight gain stranger things,is hopper alive,erica stranger things.