Here's Why Netflix Can't Trust David Harbour With 'Stranger Things' Intel

You might think that in the world of Stranger Things, the most dangerous enemy is the demogorgon. However, the real threat is spoilers for the next season of the show, and David Harbour is public enemy number one, according to Netflix. In a new interview with Jimmy Kimmel, David Harbour revealed he can't stop spoiling Stranger Things, and it's gotten to the point where Netflix has to occasionally give him a dad talk. Get it together, Hopper! Just kidding. Please continue dropping accidental hints for as long as you want. (Unless it gets you fired, of course.)

Harbour, who has played Chief Jim Hopper since the show premiered in 2016, went on Jimmy Kimmel Live on June 22 and spilled the beans — that he can't stop spilling them, that is. It's reportedly gotten to the point where Netflix can't trust the Stranger Things star with facts about his own show. Despite Harbour's age and experience when compared to many of his costars, the actor revealed, "[Netflix] trusts the kids more than they trust me with the storyline details. No joke!" He then added:

“I’m kind of notorious for just giving away entire seasons and stuff [on social media]. You know, I think it’s the kind of stuff that I thought was self-evident. Like, I said something last year about Winona having this boyfriend, which wound up being this Bob character, played by Sean Astin, that apparently was not public knowledge."

Oops.

To be fair, Harbour and costar Winona Ryder are close. Just look at his gushing Instagram captions for her, and you'll know it's true. But apparently, his excitement didn't exactly translate well to the suits at Netflix. Harbour admitted:

"And then I get these very disappointed calls from Ted Sarandos [Netflix’s chief content officer] and just Netflix executives. They’re not angry, they’re just like 'Oh, David.' Just like your dad. ‘We’re disappointed.'"

Sigh. Now, this isn't the first time Harbour has addressed his spoiler issues. During the 2017 holiday season, for instance, he joked in an Instagram post that naughty fans would receive slimy demodogs in their Christmas stockings, while nice ones would get something else:

"Slimy dead demodog stocking stuffers for all you naughty kiddos, and for the nice ones a bunch ious for NON SPOILER (OKAY @netflix ALRIGHT GUYS OKAY WHATEVER) bts photos of us starting the s3 shoot in the new year."

Translation: He's literally been posting accidental spoilers for years. "BTS" translates to "behind the scenes," which means there's no limit to what Harbour will accidentally reveal to fans. Set dressing? Outfits? Scene partners? Evidently, it's all fair game.

In his defense, he really loves working on the show — and really loves his costars — so it's not like Harbour is (presumably) trying to make a mess of things. He just loves Stranger Things so much, and wants to share as much of it as possible with its many fans. Who can blame him for that?

Despite Harbour's occasional slip-ups, he remains a central part of the Stranger Things universe. Production on Season 3 kicked off some time in April, which fans know thanks to the show's official Twitter account. On April 27, the Stranger Things Twitter account tweeted "Back at it, nerds," accompanied by a video of the group assembling for a table read. It's likely that by June 22, when Harbour appeared on Kimmel, that filming was well underway.

So if you're hoping to catch a spoiler or two from Hopper, definitely keep an eye on the actor's Twitter and Instagram pages. But don't encourage him, of course; Hopper only just adopted Jane (Eleven), and she could definitely use a non-government-issued parental figure as she heads into her rebellious teen years.