David Harbour was absent from the Stranger Things press tour last month, sparking curiosity among fans of the Netflix series. The Thunderbolts actor’s absence was due to scheduling conflicts as he was involved in filming Courteney Cox’s movie Evil Genius, not because he opted out of the promotional events with his co-stars.
The 50-year-old was not officially scheduled for the interview rounds where Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Noah Schnapp, and Sadie Sink represented the show’s final season. However, Harbour is expected to attend the season five premiere in Los Angeles on November 6, according to sources close to the production.
While Netflix has not commented on Harbour’s absence, this period coincided with personal news as his estranged wife, singer Lily Allen, released her album West End Girl, which touches on themes of infidelity linked to Harbour.
Though Harbour has yet to publicly address Allen’s album, he shared his thoughts on the conclusion of Stranger Things, reflecting on the emotional journey and the legacy the show will leave behind.
There’s all kinds of stuff: there’s sadness, there’s fear, but in general it also gives you an opportunity to have more time and space to do your own thing,
he told Esquire Spain.
I’m excited about what I’ve learned over the years on Stranger Things.
The actor also remarked,
As brilliant and wonderful as Stranger Things is—I do think it will stand the test of time, but I also think it will be a product of its time.
Harbour praised his younger costars, calling them “pretty good kids” who have promising futures ahead.
I’m always here to help them out,
he said,
but they’re on their own path. It’s a wild path, but they all seem to be doing great.
The Origins of Stranger Things and the Duffer Brothers’ Vision
Stranger Things was created by Matt and Ross Duffer, who previously worked on M. Night Shyamalan’s Wayward Pines. The show’s concept originally went by the name Montauk.
It’s very hard when your brain is latched onto a title, it’s really, really hard to get people to agree and accept another title,
Matt Duffer explained.
Initially when we came up with this title Stranger Things, it was hard for people to embrace.
The brothers initially wanted to film on Long Island to capture a coastal vibe, inspired by Amity from Jaws, but the harsh winter weather made production there impractical.
We liked Montauk, because we liked the coastal setting, and Montauk was the basis for Amity, and Jaws is probably our favorite movie, so I thought that that would be really cool,
Matt shared.
Then it was really going to be impossible to shoot in or around Long Island in the wintertime. It was just going to be miserable and expensive.
As a result, the series eventually settled on Atlanta as its production hub.
Challenges Before Netflix Greenlit the Show
Before Netflix acquired Stranger Things, nearly twenty networks turned down the project. Executives were skeptical that audiences would connect with a show led by four child actors.
Millie Bobby Brown’s Transformation for Eleven
To portray Eleven, Millie Bobby Brown had to shave her head at the age of twelve, an experience she described as liberating and empowering. During a 2018 PaleyFest appearance, Brown called this act
“the most empowering moment of my whole life.”
The day I shaved my head was the most empowering moment of my whole life,
she said.
The last strand of hair cut off was the moment my whole face was on show and I couldn’t hide behind my hair like I used to. As I looked in the mirror I realized I had one job to do: inspire…You don’t need hair to be beautiful.
Influences Behind Eleven’s Look and Accent
Brown took style inspiration from various sources, including Charlize Theron’s role in Mad Max: Fury Road and Winona Ryder’s youthful pixie cut, aiming to channel that cool retro vibe for her character.
Winona looked cool back in the day with the pixie cut,
Brown remarked.
and I thought maybe I could bring it back!
For mastering her American accent, the actress surprisingly turned to Miley Cyrus’s Hannah Montana.
Like the film, everything. Everything about it is amazing. And I got the American accent,
Brown told Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show.
Discovery Process Behind Casting the Core Kids
The Duffer brothers used scenes from Stand By Me to audition the main young actors. The initial vision for Mike was a quieter, dreamy character resembling Mikey from The Goonies, but Finn Wolfhard’s anxious and energetic audition changed the direction.
Originally Mike was a sigher, he was a dreamer, he was much more like Mikey in The Goonies in a lot of ways,
Matt said.
But Finn had this really anxious, twitchy energy about him and we thought that that was really great and we just kind of wrote the character to match him and his personality.
Similarly, Gaten Matarazzo influenced the character of Dustin. The Duffers tailored Dustin’s personality to fit Matarazzo rather than following a strict nerd stereotype.
I don’t think we really understood who that character was. He started out more like a stereotypical nerd and then we met Gaten and we basically tailored the show to him,
Matt explained.
Unexpected Marketing Success from Eleven’s Eggo Waffles
Eleven’s fondness for Eggo waffles led to a tangible marketing boost for Kellogg’s, with a 14 percent sales increase reported after season two of Stranger Things premiered. Social media mentions of the product also reached an all-time high in October 2017.
David Harbour’s Memorable Social Media Moments
David Harbour gained viral attention in early 2018 after fulfilling a fan’s tweet asking him to take her senior portraits. Responding with humorous terms, he agreed and took photos wearing the school sweatshirt and holding a trombone.
How many retweets for you take my senior photos with me,
the fan asked. Harbour replied,
25k. And I get to wear the school sweatshirt and hold a trombone.
After delivering on this promise, Harbour posted on Instagram,
Voted most likely to hijack someone’s high school senior photos 24 years later.
Later that year, Harbour officiated a viewer’s wedding after receiving 125,000 retweets. He became ordained and dressed as Chief Hopper to perform the ceremony, securing the first slice of cake as part of the agreement.
Character Backstories and Fan Theories About Hopper and Eleven
Fans speculated that Eleven might be Hopper’s biological daughter, but he ultimately became her adoptive father figure. In a subtle nod, Eleven wore a blue braided bracelet made from Hopper’s late daughter’s hair ribbon at her school dance in season two.
Millie Bobby Brown’s First On-Screen Kiss
Eleven’s first kiss with Mike marked Millie Bobby Brown’s personal first kiss. The experience was intense due to the large audience on set.
Having 250 people looking at you kissing someone is like, ‘Whoa!’,
Brown admitted.
For the next season’s kissing scene, Brown revealed Finn Wolfhard used a playful ventriloquist technique to signal his approach.
He wanted to let me know he was, like, kissing me then,
she said.
So he was like, ‘I’m coming in,’ and he was like a ventriloquist! It was the craziest thing.
The Private Relationship of Natalia Dyer and Charlie Heaton
Natalia Dyer and Charlie Heaton, who portray Nancy and Jonathan, have been a couple since 2016 but maintain privacy around their relationship.
That’s something important to me—with my family, with my friends, I really like to keep it for me,
Dyer shared.
It’s an interesting thing to work with somebody who you go home with. It’s always really fun.
Steve Harrington’s Role Evolution
Originally planned as a character who would not survive the first season, Joe Keery’s portrayal of Steve Harrington won over the showrunners. This led to an expanded arc where Steve played a heroic role alongside Jonathan and Nancy.
Steve was supposed to be this jocky douchebag, and Joe was so much more than that,
Ross Duffer said.
We fell in love with him during the making of season one, which is why we ended up writing that arc for him where he’s helping to save the day with Jonathan and Nancy.
Eleven’s Near-Death Plotline and Character Importance
Eleven was initially intended to sacrifice herself at the end of season one, but the show’s creators changed their plans to keep her as a central figure, recognizing Millie Bobby Brown’s unique impact on the series.
Eleven was going to sacrifice herself to save the day,
Ross explained.
That was always the end game. But once we realized that the show was potentially going to go on longer than one season, we needed to leave it more up in the air because deep down we knew the show just wouldn’t really work without Eleven. And at that point, we knew how special Millie was. If there was going to be more Stranger Things, Eleven had to come back.
The Controversy and Importance of The Lost Sister Episode
Season two’s episode titled The Lost Sister, focusing on Eleven’s search for another experiment victim named Kali, almost did not air due to pacing concerns. The Duffers initially considered cutting it but kept it because its ending was necessary for the story.
When we got to the point of writing the episode, we wanted to see if we really needed it or not,
Matt noted.
We actually did toy with pulling the episode completely, but then the ending with Eleven didn’t work at all. It just didn’t land at all. Then we ended up deciding we needed it.
The character Kali was originally conceived as Eleven’s brother, but after auditions, Linnea Berthelsen, a female actress, was cast, leading to the introduction of Eleven’s sister instead.
Linnea and Millie really had a connection,
Matt said.
Millie was like, ‘I want to do this with Linnea.’
Other Casting Insights and Actor Journeys
Nicola Coughlan, later known for Bridgerton, initially auditioned for the role of Robin but was cast as Penelope Featherington years later. Reflecting on this, she advised actors to understand that not landing a part is not personal.
It’s a good lesson to actors: Watch the stuff you didn’t get, because you’ll totally understand how it’s not personal. You’re just right for some things and you’re not right for other things,
Coughlan said.
Similarly, Madelyn Cline appeared as a Hawkins High cheerleader in season two before her later role as Sarah on Netflix’s Outer Banks.
Australian actor Dacre Montgomery secured his role as Billy, Max’s older stepbrother, through a bold audition tape featuring dance moves in a G-string to classic 1980s hits.
I wanted to make a bit of a splash with the Duffers,
Montgomery told GQ. Although worried about the reaction, he noted,
Either I’m never going to work again, or somebody somewhere is going to see one thing in me, and they’ll give me a chance.
Cast Salary Increases and Industry Impact
The Stranger Things cast experienced significant pay raises by season three. Younger actors saw their per-episode pay jump from approximately $30,000 to potentially $250,000. Meanwhile, Winona Ryder and David Harbour earned between $300,000 and $350,000 per episode, while Natalia Dyer and Charlie Heaton were paid $100,000 to $150,000 per episode.
Erica’s Expanded Role and Wardrobe Challenges
Priah Ferguson’s character Erica, originally slated for one episode as Lucas’ outspoken sister, was expanded into a series regular due to her popularity.
The rapid growth of the young cast presented continuity challenges for the costume department. Kim Wilcox, the costume designer, detailed how shoe sizes had to be managed carefully.
We had one kid we could not keep in shoes, like every three weeks he grew a half-size,
Wilcox said. To cope, the team procured multiple pairs of shoes in varying sizes from heritage brands, ensuring availability as the actors grew.
Balancing Homage With Original Storytelling
The Duffer brothers paid tribute to classic films such as The Goonies, E.T., and Stand By Me while making sure that Stranger Things remained its own story rather than a collage of references.
When we billed the project to Netflix, we had this big two-and-a-half-minute trailer that had about 20 or 30 of these movies kind of woven together to try and tell the story of Stranger Things, but obviously all these images or ideas were in our heads,
Matt explained.
Those are the movies that we grew up on and they’re so much a part of our DNA. But then when you get into the writers’ room and you’re working on individual episodes, actually very little time is spent referencing other movies. Mostly you’re just trying to tell the story, letting the characters guide where everything’s going. Otherwise it would just be a jumble and a mess.
The Complexities of Special Effects Production
The production team initially aimed to rely solely on practical effects to achieve a nostalgic feel but soon discovered the difficulty of this approach given time constraints.
The funny thing is that the original goal was to do entirely practical effects. But what we realized—and it really made us admire those guys who did The Thing and Alien and whatever—is that doing practical is really hard,
Ross said.
It takes a lot of time and preparation. We were turning out scripts as quickly as we could but they don’t have six months to prep this stuff. You show up on set and stuff that seemed like it would be a great idea to do in that old school way, we didn’t have time to do.
The Planned Five-Season Arc and Cost of Production
The Duffers had always intended Stranger Things to span five seasons, a plan increasingly visible as the show nears its conclusion. Netflix executive Matthew Thunell noted,
So much of what they had in their head in 2015 is what we’re now seeing play out as we come to the end of this series.
The production cost of season four episodes reportedly reached $30 million per episode, reflecting the show’s expanding scale and ambition.
Possibility of Future Stranger Things Projects
Although Stranger Things has a definitive ending planned, the creators expressed enthusiasm about potential spin-offs. While no details have been publicly disclosed, they hinted at a very different premise.
We do have an idea for a spin-off that we’re super excited about,
the Duffers revealed.
But we haven’t told anyone the idea yet, much less written it.
Interestingly, Finn Wolfhard has guessed the spin-off’s concept, while the rest of the cast remains in the dark.
Aside from Finn, no one else knows!
