We haven’t even made it into 2018 and already we’re having to deal with some serious bummers concerning the year to come. Sophie Turner recently reminded us that Game of Thrones won’t be back until 2019, and now Stranger Things star David Harbour (who plays Police Chief Jim Hopper) is saying the same thing about Stranger Things 3.
That was always a good possibility given Stranger Things 2 came out at the end of October, which was 15 months after the first season debuted. But Harbour is the first person attached to the show basically confirming a Stranger Things-less 2018.
“I think we’re supposed to go into production around April,” he said in a video interview with Variety. “We’ll see, though. I mean, one of the things that’s annoying for fans is that it takes us a long time to do them. Like, you probably won’t get [Season 3] until sometime in 2019.”
“But also part of the thing is, like any good thing, they need time. And those guys work so hard. I mean, they just sit in their apartment and write for 12, 14 hours a day. And the scripts are so sophisticated, but that only comes with time. So the more time they take, the better the scripts are, so that to me is the most important thing.”
Sometimes a longer wait is better. Everyone remembers what happened when HBO rushed True Detective season 2. While no one would accuse Stranger Things 2 of being the same level of letdown, you also won’t find many people suggesting it’s better than the original. Still, season two did a lot right, like refusing to throw in a bunch of corny retreads.
“I think we threw out the mold a little bit and started with this stuff afresh,” Harbour said. “And we’re like ‘We’re going to continue to take risks.’ The horror show could have been that Jim Hopper shows up saying catchphrases like ‘Mornings are for coffee and contemplation’ like every scene and we just sort of trot out all the greatest hits. Thankfully we didn’t do that.”
Showrunners the Duffer Brothers sounded like they were working on Stranger Things 3 even before the show was officially renewed by Netflix, and have promised a “weirdly more intimate” season that isn’t just going to throw an even bigger monster at the cast. It will also be bringing back Stranger Things 2‘s most controversial character. But fortunately, Matt Duffer is balancing this out with “more Steve,” proving they aren’t above a little bit of worthy “greatest hits” fan service.
