The Duffer Brothers Reveal Their First Choice to Play Hopper in STRANGER THINGS

Now that Stranger Things has concluded, fans will always see the actors from the show as the iconic and memorable characters they played on the show.

The casting was perfectly done, helping the show become the cultural phenomenon it was, but one character was created with a different actor in mind.

During a recent interview on the Happy Sad Confused podcast with host Josh Horowitz, the Duffers were asked to reveal who their “first choice” was for Hopper on the Netflix series. David Harbour himself was the one to ask them in a pre-recorded question shared by Horowitz. “Hello, Duffer Brothers,” Harbour said.

“I would like to know the casting process of Hopper. I’m pretty sure I was second choice, and I don’t know who I was second choice to — maybe I was third choice? But would you please answer the question of how I came to be cast as Chief Hopper, and who had to say no to allow me to do that wonderful, incredible role.”

Horowitz then guessed the first-pick actor to play Hawkins’ Chief of Police was Josh Brolin, based on the Duffers’ clue that it was one of Harbour’s friends.

“No, no, no, no, no no,” Matt Duffer said. “No, it was Billy Crudup, which is a very different– like, everything happens for a reason, right? So it’s like, once it kind of clicks into place. But yeah, Billy Crudup passed. I don’t think he was doing much TV at the time.”

While Crudup is now starring on Apple TV’s The Morning Show alongside Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon, he wasn’t a TV actor at the time — much to Harbour’s benefit.

“And then David just, honestly, he just came in and one of our casting directors thought he could be great for the role,” Ross Duffer said. “He came and read and he just did one take. We weren’t even there, we just saw the tape, and it was just so clear, instantly: this is Hopper. And we just cast him right then and there.”

Harbour was great in the role of Hopper, and Crudup is fantastic on The Morning Show, so it all worked out for the best.

via: Variety