David Harbour (Sheriff Hopper) weighs in on Stranger Things fan theories

The third season of Stranger Things isn’t coming out for a good long while, but we seem to be getting a lot of teases from cast members lately. Is there some kind of information drop on the way? Trailer?

Put a pin in that. For the moment, enjoy this video from Vanity Fair, which features star David Harbour (Sheriff Jim Hopper) mulling over various Stranger Things fan theories:

Harbour seems like he’s given a fair amount of thought to the Stranger Things mythology, which is great. A few of the theories he hits:

• The Upside Down is actually the future. Comment: “The one thing that you have hit on is that the Upside Down is something specific. It may be the future, it may be something else. It exists as a reflection of Hawkins.”
• The Upside Down was once inhabited by human beings, but the air became toxic, and the monstrous Demogorgon is the descendent of the corrupted humans who lived there. Comment: “I think you’re probably very far off. I think the time one is a little more apropos…I think that the Upside Down is more related to the specific events of this particular town of this particular area. I don’t think it’s its own entity that has existed for a long period of time. I think it coincides with the idea of Eleven’s powers opening this gate.”
• Theory: The source of the Upside Down is Terry Ives, Eleven’s mother, born of her despair over losing her daughter. Comment: “I like the idea of it being explicitly referenced as some kind of manifestation of the subconscious of the town.” Harbour is also into the idea that the Demogorgon is a manifestation of Eleven’s trauma, “and I pretty much know that it’s not true.” Ends up he thought this one up on his own, asked the Duffer brothers (the showrunners) about it, and they said no.

Elsewhere, Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven) spoke about the show during a For Your Consideration screening in New York City, teasing that season 3 is “definitely going to be darker.”

"I think Eleven should sacrifice herself in some way. That’s how I kind of want that situation to go. I want to have her really sacrifice her powers. If Eleven loses her powers, is she as powerful just as a character? I think that would be very cool. I want to build her to be a strong person without her powers…But right now it’s very about her powers and I think taking that away slowly could be cool."

Is she teasing the plot or just wondering out loud about possibilities for season 5? Hard to tell.

But why talk about darkness when you can discuss the possibility of Sheriff Hopper getting together with Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder), Will’s mom? Harbour himself has already suggested the possibility, and it’s clear that Brown ships it. “I can’t say anything about this,” she began, promisingly. “This is so bad.”

"Listen, I would love for them to get together. Jopper is like my inspiration in life. Winona Ryder and David Harbor are like my parents. On set, they’re like, ‘Stop running, what are you eating, why are you eating that?’ David is like, ‘Another boy?’ And in the show, if they rekindle, that means Will and Eleven will be step-siblings. I would love that because Noah [Schnapp] is my boy best friend."

And the ship sets sail.

Stranger Things is up for a bevy of Emmy awards this year, including one apiece for Harbour and Brown (in the Best Support Actor and Actress categories respectively), plus a nomination for Best Drama Series. We’ll see how it does on September 17, and we’ll see what fresh horrors befall Hawkins sometime in the summer of 2019.

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