Now the truth is out, thanks to the "Stranger Things 4" teaser revealing Hopper is alive.
In a new interview published by Netflix, Harbour told "Stranger Things" cocreators that he hated having to "lie to people."
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The third season of "Stranger Things" ended with Jim Hopper's dramatic self-sacrifice, allowing Joyce to blow up a machine the Russian government was using to reopen the Gate to the Upside Down. In the show's narrative, everyone believed Hopper (played by David Harbour) was dead.
In a recent interview with Netflix, "Stranger Things" cocreators asked Harbour how much he hated having to "hide Hopper's fate from the public."
"On a scale of [one] to 10, I'd give it an 11," Harbour said. "It was awful. I'd go on talk shows, and they'd be like, 'So, you're dead?' I'd be like, 'I guess so.' I just had to lie to people."
"I feel like everybody kind of knew that he wasn't dead, because you didn't see the body, and in sci-fi, if you don't see the body ..." Harbour said, trailing off.
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Not only was there no body left behind, but the entire way the scene was staged left open the clear possibility that Hopper had escaped before the Russian's machine exploded.
The upcoming fourth season of "Stranger Things" has been delayed following the COVID-19 pandemic. Filming had already begun before production was shut down, which is how fans were able to see some new footage in the trailer released in February.
The trailer opens in Kamchatka, Russia, and shows soldiers working outside as snow falls around them. One of the workers on the railway is revealed to be Hopper, whose hair has been shaved off. Though little else is currently known about the plot so far, fan theories are already cropping up.
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