WEARY of being stuck in “The Upside Down”, David Harbour is looking towards greener pastures after Netflix’s Stranger Things eventually concludes.
Due to the ongoing strikes in Hollywood, Harbour is currently waiting to shoot the fifth and final season of Stranger Things, but in an interview with Insider, it sounds like the actor is spiritually done playing Sheriff Hopper on the show and being on TV.
“The first year of Stranger Things, I remember having a discussion with a publicist and her saying: ‘Maybe you don’t want to be associated with the show so much’, and I was like: ‘Why? I love this show. I love the character’,” he said.
“And I do love the show. And I do love the character. But I don’t want to be just that character. I don’t want to be just that guy.”
Despite a consistent appearance and increasingly important role in the hit Netflix series for the past four seasons that made him a household name, Harbour had been actively branching out into film over the years.
In 2019, he took on the role of Hellboy in the film reboot of the franchise.
Two years later, he appeared in Marvel Studios’ Black Widow as Red Guardian, and a year later, Harbour played Santa Claus in the R-rated action-comedy Violent Night, which was the first box office hit that he was the lead for.
“A whole new world opened up for me with [Violent Night],” Harbour said.
“I like this playing field. I want to make original movies that go to the movie theatres.”
Harbour is intent on carving a space for himself on film rather than being typecast forever as Sheriff Hopper.
“I think about George Clooney leaving ER,” he said.
“Now we just see him as George Clooney. But there was a time when it was, ‘The guy from ER is doing a movie with Nicole Kidman’.”
“I’m trying to navigate some of that,” he continued.
“It’s tricky because you don’t want to s*** on the people that love you for this thing that you did that you also love. But at the same time, you kind of want to leave the nest.”