David Harbour Teases Hopper’s Interesting Arc In Stranger Things Season 3

Sheriff Jim Hopper had a transformative character arc over Stranger Things season 2. It kicked off with revealing that he’d been hiding Eleven away in his cabin for her own safety for the past year, but it ended with him legally adopting the telekinetic teen, helping him move away from the grief of losing his daughter to cancer in the past.

As such, it’ll be interesting to see where the upcoming third season of the smash hit Netflix drama takes Hawkins’ intrepid sheriff next. While speaking to Vanity Fair, David Harbour chatted about where Hopper will be in his life at the beginning of season 3 and teased that things will be pretty good for the cop when the show kicks off, now that he has some happiness and his hometown’s currently safe from the Upside Down.

“In terms of Hopper, all the things that we’ve had from Season 1 and Season 2 come to a boiling point for him in the beginning of Season 3. It’s really interesting to watch, because we’ve sort of cleared up the main problem. You see in the end of Season 2 that the Upside Down is still kind of there, but we really sort of solved it. We closed the gate.

So, this is a year for Hopper of real domesticity. Eleven’s been validated, she has a birth certificate. She’s a part of the world in some way. It’s really how Hopper deals with domestic issues, like real day-to-day stuff . . .So, what that does to him is very, very interesting. We’ll start to really understand a lot more about what he needs and what he doesn’t have and who he wants to be that might take him in different directions.”

The good times Hopper will have at the start of season 3 sound very much like what’s in store for the rest of the cast when the new run kicks off. As the season will be set in the summer instead of around Halloween, we’ve been told that it’ll feature a lot of lightness, with characters such as Eleven finally allowed to have a good time. However, this won’t last forever, as the Mind Flayer’s still out there and the latter half of the season will descend into darkness.

In the same interview, Harbour was asked on the spot about whether Hopper’s domestic bliss might have something to do with Joyce Byers. For instance, will the pair finally become a couple in season 3? The actor’s silence might speak louder than words here, as all he had to say was: “Uh…” Given that he’s also said Hopper will find romance next season, we’re taking that as a yes.

Stranger Things season 3 is expected to hit the streaming service in early 2019.