Overview
- On Monday’s Happy Sad Confused podcast, Matt and Ross Duffer said they first offered Jim Hopper to Billy Crudup, who passed.
- David Harbour sent a video to the show asking if he had been their second choice for the role.
- Ross Duffer said Harbour delivered a single taped read after Crudup declined, prompting an immediate casting decision.
- Harbour’s portrayal became a breakout, bringing Emmy nominations and major film work, while Crudup later won Emmys for The Morning Show.
- Matt Duffer noted Crudup would have yielded a very different Hopper, highlighting how casting shaped Stranger Things, which ran from 2016 to 2025 and later expanded into spinoffs.