David Harbour Says He Envied ‘Stranger Things’ Kids for Farting Freely on Set
David Harbour has shared a funny and unexpected memory from his time working on Stranger Things, saying he was surprised by how relaxed his younger co-stars were on set during filming. The actor joked that some of the child actors were so comfortable during takes that they would even fart on camera without worrying about it.
He made the comments during a recent conversation event in Los Angeles, where cast and crew reflected on the show’s early seasons. Harbour said that level of ease was something he had never experienced in his own acting career.
“These kids were just enjoyable as hell,” Harbour said. “A lot of kid actors that you work with are very actor-y, and part of the strength of the actors that they formed were that, at their essence, they were just kids. So, even during takes, they would fart and do things that you just couldn’t believe that you had the relaxation to do that in front of a camera. I was like, I would dream of being able to do that and not being self-conscious in that way!”
Harbour explained that the atmosphere on set in the first season felt very natural and unfiltered, especially compared to more traditional film sets where actors tend to stay very controlled during scenes. He said watching the younger cast behave so freely actually made him admire them more, not less.
The conversation also touched on how Harbour ended up playing Jim Hopper. The Duffer brothers reportedly had other actors in mind early on, including Billy Crudup, but things changed quickly after Harbour auditioned.
Ross Duffer explained, “One of our casting directors thought he could be great for the role. He came and read. 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 had already been acting for over two decades before landing his breakout role in Stranger Things. When the show began, his character Hopper was written as a damaged and emotionally heavy figure dealing with personal loss and alcoholism. Despite that, Harbour said the environment around him on set helped balance things out.
He described the experience of filming the first season as deeply meaningful and said he felt a strong sense of connection with the cast and crew.
“These were real, beautiful human beings, and they were such a joy to work with; I had a blast,” he said. “I look back on that first season as being a miraculous time in my life. Hopper was a very depressed individual, it was really tough to go through the acting of that, but the family that we created and the story that we were telling, I don’t know if I’ve ever felt that enriched by some work that I was doing.”
The series, created by Matt and Ross Duffer, became one of Netflix’s biggest global hits, turning its young cast into major stars and establishing Harbour as a fan favorite.
The final season of Stranger Things has recently wrapped, closing out the story that began in Hawkins nearly a decade ago.
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