“A lot of people think maybe she’s in Spain or whatever,” says Harbour about fan theories circulating after the end of the series. “But right from the very beginning of that series — we love this little girl, but you really can’t have a little girl in Hawkins, Indiana, with supernatural powers running around. She just cannot exist. … Right from the beginning of the series — you gotta kill her.” Harbour is of the mind that Eleven is unambiguously dead, but he’s still a bit cynical: “Until Netflix needs to raise their subscription rate. Then — ladies and gentlemen: ‘Eleven,’ the new series!”
However, Harbour is quick to make clear that he maintains a good relationship with Eleven actor Millie Bobby Brown and says, “You’ll see more of me and Millie — 10 years wasn’t enough. There is a special bond there. I love her. She loves me.” The topic comes up after Harbour is asked about tabloid reports that surfaced late last year claiming that Brown had lodged complaints with production, alleging that Harbour was bullying her. Variety writes that Harbour “expresses bewilderment” about the reports, calling them “a weird thing” that “came out in a weird way.”
“We worked together for 10 years during her formative teenage years, playing father and daughter. I don’t know if people have families and friends that you spend a lot of time with for 10 years — you occasionally get in arguments, disagreements,” he says. “In families, it’s OK because you’re just in a disagreement and then you come back together. The problem with a billion-dollar show is that there’s just hundreds of people who want to get involved.” For her part, in what reads like a very-PR-approved email, Brown writes, “Over time, our relationship became much more collaborative creatively. When you work with someone for that many years, we could really push each other emotionally in scenes. Even though the series has ended, there’s still a lot of gratitude.” Still, Harbour says he and Brown are “working on several” things together. Hopefully one of them won’t be Eleven, the new series from Netflix.
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