David Harbour is ready for the Stranger Things world to expand. As the fifth and final season of the hit Netflix series nears, show creators the Duffer Brothers have revealed that the Stranger Things universe could expand past the limits of 1980s Hawkins, sooner than we think. And if the spotlight shines on chief of police Jim Hopper, actor David Harbour knows just who he’d like to play the younger version of the character in a potential prequel: Jacob Elordi.
The actor sat down with GQ to discuss the Stranger Things season 4 two-part finale and his career plans past the series’ eventual end. It turns out that he’s open to other actors taking on the role of Hopper once season 5 is complete.
“At this point, I think Hopper is a character that can exist independent of me,” David shared. “If they wanna go back in time, forward in time… I’d love to see another actor play Hopper, and see what they can bring to it.” Later, the actor landed on who he’d like to see take on the role, and it just so happened to be everyone’s favorite Euphoria jock, Jacob Elordi! “He could pull off being as handsome as I was at 20,” David joked.
TBH, we can see it. If anything, Jacob, who stands tall at 6’5″, definitely has the height to match David, who is 6’3″. But Jacob may be a bit too busy to step into Hopper’s shoes. Euphoria season 3 is right on the horizon, and the actor has a few more projects in development outside of his role as the notorious Nate Jacobs.
However, a Stranger Things spinoff does appear to be in the works, though the Duffer Brothers claim it will be quite different from what we’ve seen thus far and likely won’t focus on any of the current characters. As noted by Complex, the brothers said the spinoff will take us on a new journey.
“I’ve read these rumors that there’s gonna be an Eleven spinoff, that there’s gonna be a Steve and Dustin spinoff or that it’s another number,” the creators shared on a recent podcast appearance. “That’s not interesting to me because we’ve done all that. We’ve spent I don’t know how many hours exploring all of that. So it’s very different.” Instead, the story will “connect to the Stranger Things world” — so let’s not get our hopes too high about seeing Jacob as a young Hopper, fighting against all types of otherworldly creatures.