[Warning: Spoiler alert for Stranger Things, although, as Seth Meyers said to his audience, “But also, like, try to keep up with culture when it happens. There’s certain things we all watch, and it’d be nice if you joined us.”]
With Stranger Things’ Sheriff Hopper David Harbour hosting Saturday Night Live this week (something Harbour calls “a dream come true”), SNL alum Seth Meyers had Harbour in the building already, so why not have everyone’s favorite genially furious 1980s copper on for a chat. Talking over that ending of the Netflix phenomenon’s third season, the two necessarily waffled around the implications of Harbour’s Hopper seemingly being struck from the cast list in the most explosive way possible. Now, what with the MCU-style post-credits stinger about an unseen “American” in a dank, Demogorgon-infested Russian prison, there’s been plenty of speculation that that’s a reference to fan-favorite Hopper miraculously still being on the show—and in one piece—but Harbour isn’t telling. At least partly because he says he doesn’t know.
“I mean at this point I am,” Harbour responded to Meyers asking if his employment status is “in flux.” He also added, somewhat ominously, that his Hopper is “a jerk,” and that the actor knew Hopper “has to pay for that in some way.” But, being the take-charge guy that he is, Harbour then whipped out his phone and asked if Meyers wanted him to call Stranger Things creators the Duffer Brothers to see if they could get a straight answer from his once and possibly future bosses. Actually, Harbour Facetimed the hard-at-work siblings, who were taken aback at suddenly being put on the spot on television. “Why are you calling us?,” asked one flustered Duffer, while Harbour, clearly relishing being in the driver’s seat for once, asked, point-blank, “Am I dead?” “I mean, we’re still figuring it out, David” was the non-answer answer, even though Meyers offered to sweeten the pot by offering up the single crumpled dollar bill that had fallen out of Harbour’s pocket.
So, no dice there. Still, Harbour was full of good will toward his maybe employers, expressing his love for the bearded brothers Duffer (Matt and Ross, if you can tell them apart), while calling them “the biggest nerds I have ever met,” and “little geeky, Dungeons & Dragons, video game-type guys.” As to his experience on Stranger Things, Harbour was equally effusive, although he also had some tough love for his rapidly growing teenage co-stars, whose conversations of adolescent self-discovery often leave him a little flustered himself. “It’s a nightmare,” Harbour deadpanned, musing, “What adult male wakes up in the morning—like, I’m in my 40s—and goes, like, ‘You know what I wanna do today? I wanna hang out with, like, six fifteen-year-olds.’” Adding that he’s had to simply “walk away” from some of the teens’ intimate chatter, Harbour noted, “I’m qualified to speak about this, but I’m not going to.” As Meyers added, cracking Harbour up, “I managed to find these answers without the help of a 45-year-old man.”