David Harbour reveals the surprising facial prosthetics he had to wear in order to film Jim Hopper flashback scenes for Stranger Things season 4.
Jim Hopper actor David Harbour shares surprising new Stranger Things season 4 set photos that reveal he wore a facial prosthetic for certain scenes. First airing on Netflix in 2016, Stranger Things has since become a massive hit for the streamer, most recently airing part 1 of its fourth season. The show, which is created by the Duffer Brothers, tells the story of a group of youngsters who discover that a mysterious government laboratory in their hometown of Hawkins, Indiana, has unleashed an interdimensional monster upon their community.
The show's fourth season picks up where Stranger Things season 3 left off, following Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) as she struggles to adapt to her new life in California, while Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), Max (Sadie Sink), and the rest of the gang investigate a series of violent deaths back in Hawkins. Season 4 also reveals that fan-favorite police chief Jim Hopper survived his apparent death in season 3, showing a flashback of the character jumping to safety moments before the explosion that Joyce (Winona Ryder) believes killed him. Stranger Things season 4 depicts Hopper's rough captivity in a Soviet prison, seeing the character significantly thinner and with all of his hair shaved off.
Related: Stranger Things Really Didn't Need To Explain Sara Hopper's Death
In a new post on Instagram, Harbour reveals that, in order to film the flashback scenes showing how Hopper survives the explosion, he had to be fitted with facial prosthetics so that he would look the same as he did in Stranger Things season 3. Harbour lost a significant amount of weight to play the prison-bound Hopper in season 4 and since the Duffer Brothers hadn't yet written the flashback scenes, they couldn't film everything at the same time. Check out Harbour's post below:
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As Harbour says in his caption, the results really do speak for themselves. The effect as it appears in Stranger Things season 4 is barely noticeable and it's likely that not many fans even picked up on the fact that Harbour was wearing prosthetics at all. Although, as Harbour explains, it would have been easier to film the flashback scenes at the same time as they were filming Hopper's "death" at the end of Stranger Things season 3, the Duffers had evidently not quite figured out exactly how Hopper would survive.
Harbour's transformation between Stranger Things seasons 3 and 4 makes Hopper's character journey all the more impactful, with the character's thinner, hairless look in the Soviet prison giving fans a better idea of just how malnourished and mistreated he is. It remains to be seen what is next for Hopper and Joyce in Stranger Things season 4, part 2, but many viewers are likely hoping to see Harbour's character escape the prison and get his feet firmly back on American soil where he can reunite with Eleven and the rest of the gang.
More: Stranger Things Is Fixing Its Biggest Joyce & Hopper Problem
Ryan Northrup is a freelance writer for Screen Rant, MovieBozo, and Flickfeast, and a lover of all things film. Whether it's the latest Marvel release, the hottest new Netflix series, or a smaller indie film, Ryan just loves the art of storytelling – and writing about it! He also firmly believes that Knowing with Nic Cage is a good movie. Follow @RyanJNorthrup on Twitter for all the latest in entertainment news and more!