David Harbour says Stranger Things’ third season will take a lot of risks

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Unfortunately we won't be returning to Hawkins, Indiana just as soon as we would have hoped as the third season of Stranger Things isn't expected to debut until summer 2019, but it should be well worth the wait. David Harbour, who stars as Chief Jim Hopper on the Netflix series, recently spoke with THR about what it's been like reuniting with the cast as well as dropping a few teases as to what the third season has in store for us.

It's my favorite thing to do. Certainly, acting is my favorite thing to do — but acting on this material with this group of people is just beyond. The scripts are really great this year. And in the new directions that we're going, all of us are taking a lot of risks. We're all a little bit out of our comfort zone.

It will be interesting to see just what sort of risks David Harbour is referring to, and although the actor obviously couldn't spill too many details, he did say that the new season will be "big," also adding that "it's fun to see Hopper having adopted Eleven. She's become legitimized in the society, in the world of Hawkins. And he's a father now. He's raising a teenage daughter, with all that that entails. So I think that can be pretty funny to see his inadequacies in all of this."

Stranger Things' executive producer Shawn Levy has also been talking up the upcoming season, which takes place during the summertime, and although Levy told The Playlist that the third season has a "really healthy dose of poppy, bright levity and cultural fun," it won't be long before the story "eventually goes places that are darker, and unquestionably more action-packed, than we’ve ever gone before." Spooky. In regards to the pushing the release of Stranger Things into the summer, Netflix's vice-president of original programming Cindy Holland said, "It’s a hand-crafted show. The Duffer Brothers and Shawn Levy have worked really hard … and want to deliver something bigger and better than they did last year. They want to take the time to get it right. I think it will be a fantastic season and will be worth the wait."

Stranger Things will return to Netflix in 2019.