Stranger Things star David Harbour has teased that the second season of the Netflix smash hit will take some risks that people may not be too happy with in an effort for the series to live up to the hype after the show become a pop culture phenomenon when it debuted last summer.
In a recent interview with Deadline from the set in Atlanta, GA, Harbour opened up on Chief Hopper’s heroes journey in the first season and how that will evolve in the follow-up which Netflix has branded as a movie sequel — Stranger Things 2:
“For Hopper, there needs to be a reawakening. He’s in this habitual pattern where nothing really matters and he can’t make a difference anyway. And what’s key is what sets him off is not the heroic journey. It’s that people start lying to him, and he doesn’t like it when people lie to him. That leads him down a path of heroism. Hopper is just a guy who doesn’t like you to fuck with him. So once that happens, he’s going to go to the end of the rope for that.”
Harbour recently teased Chief Hopper will have a “completely different” arc when the series returns this fall but he has also made sure that audiences know the Chief’s heartbreak of losing his daughter Sarah is something that will never leave him. But in this latest interview Harbour explained that the series will explore the complexity of how Hopper becoming a hero may lead him to make the wrong choices as the adventure continues in the fall of 1984:
“I think that breath he takes where he saves the child at the end is like the first breath he’s felt in a long time. He breathes again, as Will wakes up. So you’re right, this guy’s OK.
I think the journey, then, has to be something different in Season 2. And it is very different. You get to peel the onion back more and more as the seasons go on, and learn what these people are made of. We start with a guy, in Season 2, who has been on a heroic journey. He’s had this reawakening, and he is a hero, and I think we start with the delusions of what that might bring to you, and the fantasy life that might be dangerous. What does that mean for him going forward? You’ll start to see the pitfalls of that as the season goes on. What I love about Hopper is that he’s not a cartoon. He does come up against real life.”
Harbour also opened up about how terrified he is that the new season will not live up to the incredible success and critical acclaim of the first season:
“I was very afraid last season, but I’m more afraid this season because we’re very aware we do not want a sophomore slump. Each scene I’m thinking a lot more specifically, and I’m thinking a lot harder. We feel the ownership of this great thing and the camaraderie, and also we feel this pressure.”
As for Stranger Things 2 itself, Harbour revealed the series is going to take some risks that fans will love while some others might upset them:
“We’re going to take a lot of risks. I think people are going to be pissed off by things. I think they are going to be elated and excited about things. It’s all further in terms of going on this journey.“
Stranger Things 2 hits Netflix this Halloween. Stay tuned to Heroic Hollywood for the latest news on Stranger Things as we learn it.
Source: Deadline
