[Major spoilers for Stranger Things 3 will be found below.]
Stranger Things took a page out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s playbook and ended season three with a post-credits scene. Following Chief Jim Hopper’s tragic death and Joyce Byers finally moving her kids (and Eleven) away from Hawkins, the action moves to a Soviet prison, where the guards make reference to an unseen “American” before feeding another sap to a Demogorgon. Is Hopper the American? Even David Harbour has no clue.
“I have no idea!” he said. “I mean that, of course, is my hope, too. It seems pretty crazy, though. You know, that machine went off and blew up and Hopper seemed to be trapped there. He did glance around a little bit, but he seemed to be trapped and the machine exploded… I don’t know, it seems strange.” Also strange: Harbour giving away Hopper’s fate before season three premiered.
Not that anyone would have known at the time, because it seemed like an innocuous comment. But considering the actor’s goofy side (as seen in his upcoming Netflix short film, Frankenstein’s Monster’s Monster, Frankenstein), it was clearly intentional. Entertainment Weekly spoke to the cast of Stranger Things in the days before the new season — it’s standard preview stuff, like Cary Elwes (Mayor Kline) calling this season “more intense and more powerful and terrifying than seasons one and two combined.” But then, this comment:
“I was blown away by episode 8,” Harbour teases.
Which is to say, Hopper was literally blown away.
He went out with a Dad Joke. A legend in his time.
(Via Entertainment Weekly)