David Harbour: Stranger Things 4 is my “favorite” for Sheriff Hopper

David Harbour is excited about the journey that Sheriff Hopper will take in Stranger Things season 4, calling it his “favorite” of the series so far.

The fourth season of Stranger Things is currently in production. It’s been a long wait for fans, especially considering that season 3 ended on a number of cliffhangers — will Eleven’s powers come back? Will the Byers family move back to Hawkins? What happened to Sheriff Hopper (David Harbour)?

Well, Netflix at least solved that last one early: somehow, Hopper ended up in a Soviet prison in Siberia. Now the question becomes: how is he going to get out of there?

Whatever happens, it must be exciting, because Harbour is breathlessly talking it up to People:

"And one of the great things that you can see with Hopper is that he was a protector, he’s a man of justice [and] he now has become a prisoner. He’s trapped and he’s isolated. And we get to see an entirely other color of him that has been hinted at. […] This season is my favorite because he really is going to show you some new colors and what he’s really made up of."

What might Harbour mean when he says that Hopper will show us “some new colors”? My longstanding theory is that that Hopper in the Siberian prison isn’t the Hopper we know but rather is a clone. In the season 3 finale, Hopper “died” while trying to close the bridge between Hawkins and the Upside Down. However, when Joyce (Winona Ryder) showed up, Hopper’s body was nowhere to be found. Cut to the teaser above: we know there’s a Hopper, but is it our Hopper?

It wouldn’t be the weirdest thing to happen in Stranger Things, right?

Or Hopper just got captured by the Soviets and is now a prisoner hoping to find a way home. Either way, Harbour assures that season 4 will dive into the character’s past. “You really do get to see a lot of his backstory of who he was as a warrior in a sense and sort of the mistakes he made in the past come back to visit him. And he just sort of unfolds.”

And if that isn’t enough to get you amped about the upcoming season, Harbour also says the season will be full of “great fan service stuff that you love” and that the other characters “get elaborated [on] and reveal different aspects of themselves.”

The pandemic has slowed down the production of Stranger Things, but Harbour promises that the delays have given the Duffer Brothers time to flesh out the stories. Until then, we can stream seasons 1-3 on Netflix!

To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.

Get HBO, Starz, Showtime, and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels

h/t Digital Spy