David Harbour Teases "Surprising and Unexpected" Elements to His Character Red Guardian in Marvel's THUNDERBOLTS

David Harbour has made his mark in several different popular franchises now, namely in the role of Hopper in Stranger Things and as Alexei/Red Guardian in Black Widow. We are set to see both characters return soon, but unlike Hopper, whose story we know is wrapping up with the fifth and final season of Netflix’s Stranger Things, we hope to see Red Guardian live on to make more Marvel appearances in the future, and Harbour hopes that happens too.

In a recent interview with Total Film, the actor sat down to chat about his upcoming Christmas movie, Violent Night, and he chatted about returning to play Red Guardian in the upcoming Marvel movie, Thunderbolts. When asked about his character, he said:

"I really like him, and I love Florence [Pugh] as Yelena [also in Thunderbolts]. And then you throw in Wyatt [Russell, as U.S. Agent] from Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Sebastian [Stan, reprising Bucky Barnes]. You have all these great, colorful characters. I’m really excited for that movie." 

When asked if he hopes to play Red Guardian over and over in future MCU movies, he responded:

"I do. I love Red Guardian. I can’t wait to pull back the layers. The great thing about him is that he’s not very well-defined in the comics, like some of the other Marvel superheroes. So we can play with him in a different way, and be surprising and unexpected."

This is a great way to look at it. It probably gives him and the creators he’s working with a lot of freedom to move the character in different directions. The film is being directed by Jake Schreier (Paper Towns, Kidding), from a script by Eric Pearson (Thor: Ragnarok, Black Widow) and Kurt Busiek.

Thunderbolts is set to be released to theaters in 2024.