“Hopper on the finish of season 3. I believe loss of life grazed him,” Matt revealed. “There was a model the place he perished on the finish of three. It’s been some time since we had these discussions, however I really feel like he got here the closest to dying.”
It actually appeared just like the Duffers punched Hopper’s ticket on the finish of season 3. By that time, the character portrayed by David Harbour had established one thing of an equilibrium along with his adopted daughter Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), giving his story arc a pure finish level. And on condition that run of episodes ended with him caught in an explosion in a secret Russian lab, it actually appeared just like the Duffers had completed him off.
Given all of the distress that Hopper experiences as a captive in a Russian POW camp all through the present’s fourth season, nevertheless, possibly it could have been higher for him to have died within the explosion? It additionally wouldn’t have left him and Winona Ryder’s Joyce on a season-long boondoggle that yr. However that’s the calculation the Duffers at all times face, weighing the shock of a loss of life with the lack of a beloved character.
Despite the fact that the Duffers typically think about killing a fundamental character, they at all times put story issues first. “What typically holds us again is you must discuss concerning the repercussions,” defined Matt. “This can be a whole hypothetical: You kill Mike. It simply makes the present moderately miserable and bleak, and it turns into fully about that. Even these extra supporting characters like Eddie [Joseph Quinn] or Bob [Sean Astin] or Barb [Shannon Purser], after all, have actually long-lasting repercussions on our characters.”
Whereas that may have been sufficient to maintain Steve and Hopper alive for now, all bets are off with the story coming to finish this vacation season. Will some favorites fall? Or will demand for justice preserve them alive, even after the credit roll?
Stranger Issues season 5 debuts Nov. 26, 2025, on Netflix.
