At this point, we know that Jim Hopper is alive (but not exactly well) in Stranger Things Season 4. After all, the first teaser for the upcoming season confirmed that Hop ended up in Russia despite his teased death in the previous season finale. But how exactly did the character survive after the Battle of Starcourt? David Harbour says that Hopper's return is similar to what happened to Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings.
Harbour recently spoke to Total Film magazine while promoting Black Widow and not surprisingly, the conversation turned to Stranger Things Season 4. Interestingly, Harbour confirmed that he talked to showrunners The Duffer Brothers about giving Hopper his own version of being reborn.
"I've had those discussions with them from the very first season. We were always interested in that idea of the Gandalf resurrection – Gandalf the Grey who fights the Balrog and then becomes Gandalf the White. It's the idea of the resurrection of the character," Harbour said. He continued by pointing out that it was all about giving the character a reason to change.
"Mythologically, Hopper, in a sense, had to change. I mean, you couldn't go on the way he was going on. He has to resurrect in some way. So it was a great opportunity to do that. So we'll see a very different guy going forwards. The same guy but in a different vein. It's a very cool thing to be able to play," Harbour said.
Well, when you think about it, Hopper's sacrifice in the Season 3 finale was similar to how Gandalf allowed the rest of the Fellowship escape as the wizard fought against the Balrog. Now we're really looking forward to how different Hopper will be in the fourth season.
Stranger Things Season 4 has not yet been given an official release date. Stay tuned for more updates on this story.
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