David Harbour Almost Didn't Play Hopper For This Seriously Wild Reason

Stranger Things has perhaps one of the best premises for any show in recent years. It's almost as if the creators took a slice from every lit '80s film ever and made the perfect televisual pizza. Oh and covered it in some seriously strange, other worldly, other dimensional aliens. Apart from this, the other thing that really makes this Netflix hit stand out is its actors. The cast has basically killed it and really made the characters their own. So news that David Harbour nearly missed out on playing Hopper will basically make you rethink everything.

So, Digital Spy are reporting that this inside goss has been revealed in "a TV bible constructed by Stranger Things creators the Duffer brothers while pitching the show." (A TV bible, for those who don't know, is basically just a document outlining your series idea and explaining why and how it'll work.)

The Duffer brothers were of the opinion that, as the show was initially intended to be a one-season-only event, the casting would have to make a huge splash. According to Digital Spy, they envisioned the roles of Hopper and Joyce Byers being played by big-name movie stars. And, guys, you will absolutely not believe the people the Duffer brothers thought were right for the role. They wrote in their TV bible:

"The limited nature of the project will allow us to target film actors for the adult leads. For example, Ewan McGregor, Sam Rockwell for Hopper [and] Naomi Watts or Marisa Tomei for Joyce."

WTF. I'm shook. Imagine how different the whole show would have been? Especially like considering that those two characters are definite fan favourites. Or maybe that's just this fan? And what if this series had only been one season long? That's pretty wild to think about.

Let me quickly say big spoiler alert, because I'm going to delve into some goings on in the show from start to the most recent gut-wrenching finale.

So, Hopper has been through a lot. Although we don't see it on screen, he speaks about the loss of his daughter Sarah to cancer and the subsequent dissolution of his marriage. All of this trauma led to a drinking problem and his life is kind of getting on track when Eleven comes along. With a whole lot of love and an extra dose of Eggos the pair form a really beautiful father/daughter relationship and he even adopts her. Although Eleven has a shed load of pretty crazy mental abilities, she is still a child. And Hopper is a brilliant dad.

The finale of season 3 was just about as harrowing as it gets with Hopper seemingly kicking the bucket after a huge blast. However, some fan theories are saying that nope, he's not dead.

The third season proved to be the most watched show ever on Netflix with a pretty bonkers 40.7 million households watching the show within four days of its launch, as the network confirmed on Twitter.

A fourth season has been confirmed, thank goodness, so fans needn't worry about getting another adventure with the Hawkins gang. And here's hoping Hopper will be along for the ride.