Instead, Stranger Things became a massive hit and a regular paycheck. There was one Hopper fake-out death at the end of the third season, but he came back in the fourth. (“I think they were just committed to the beauty of that moment of his death,” Harbour says of the fan reaction. “It was so moving that I think they almost didn’t want him to be alive.”) And though none of them have turned down that paycheck, many of the series stars have voiced the opinion that the show should have more actual death. “This show would be so much better if the stakes were much higher—like at any moment, any of these kids can kick it. I feel like we’re all too safe,” Gaten Matarazzo once said. Millie Bobby Brown also advocated for more character deaths, but series creators Matt and Ross Duffer “are two Sensitive Sallies that don’t want to kill anyone off,” she complained, adding, “We need to have the mindset of Game of Thrones.” (The Duffers countered that their choices were logic, not sensitivity.)
It was a lucky thing that Hopper didn’t die (by suicide or otherwise), because his work on Stranger Things kicked off a career renaissance for David Harbour. But to land himself a recurring role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the actor first had to let himself go “physically [and] emotionally” for the Netflix series. “I was always kind of like all actors—kind of bullshitty, working out, and trying to… whatever,” he tells GQ. “And then on [Stranger Things], I just stopped working out. I just ate doughnuts, like a cop would in the Midwest. And I didn’t shave. And I was just like: fuck it. He’s a mess. Let him be a mess. And let me be a mess while we’re shooting.” The mess worked out pretty well for him!
