This week’s episode of Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast is an interview with the Duffer Brothers. It was a Stranger Things-centric discussion that was recorded in front of a live audience. Josh wanted to get their take on the series now that it’s concluded. Early into their chat, Horowitz played a pre-recorded video question from David Harbour. David asked Matt and Ross to answer a casting question that he’d had for a long time. While he’s always known he was not their first choice to play Chief Jim Hopper, David never knew the identity of the actor who turned down the role. As it turns out, the part was originally offered to David’s friend, Billy Crudup. From Variety:

During an interview with “Happy Sad Confused” host Josh Horowitz posted Monday, the Duffers are asked to reveal who their “first choice” was for Hopper on the Netflix series. David Harbour himself was the one to ask them in a pre-recorded question shared by Horowitz.

“Hello, Duffer Brothers,” Harbour said. “I would like to know the casting process of Hopper. I’m pretty sure I was second choice, and I don’t know who I was second choice to — maybe I was third choice? But would you please answer the question of how I came to be cast as Chief Hopper, and who had to say no to allow me to do that wonderful, incredible role.”

Horowitz then guessed the first-pick actor to play Hawkins’ Chief of Police was Josh Brolin, based on the Duffers’ clue that it was one of Harbour’s friends.

“No, no, no, no, no no,” Matt Duffer said. “No, it was Billy Crudup, which is a very different– like, everything happens for a reason, right? So it’s like, once it kind of clicks into place. But yeah, Billy Crudup passed. I don’t think he was doing much TV at the time.”

While Crudup is now starring on Apple TV’s “The Morning Show” alongside Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon, he wasn’t a TV actor at the time — much to Harbour’s benefit.

“And then David just, honestly, he just came in and one of our casting directors thought he could be great for the role,” Ross Duffer said. “He came and read and 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 played Chief Jim Hopper on all five seasons of the now-ended “Stranger Things,” starring alongside Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers and Millie Bobby Brown as his adoptive daughter, Eleven.

[From Variety]

I can maybe see Josh Brolin as Hopper, but I simply cannot picture Crudup in the role. That’s a testament to what Harbour brought to the character and how much he made it his own. Hopper has trauma, edge, and grit, but is also a marshmallow underneath. Given that the Duffers wrote each season of the series as they went along, Stranger Things would have been a completely different show if Crudup had been Hopper. I doubt they would have done the Russia storyline or made Hopper as much of an action hero if Crudup had been cast. I would love to see Crudup’s audition tape to get his take on the character.

While I had a lot of issues with the Stranger Things finale, I’ve always felt that the show was well-cast. I genuinely cannot see anyone other than Winona Ryder as Joyce, Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven, or Joe Keery as Steve. Jamie Campbell Bower was spectacular as Vecna/Henry Creel. I could honestly make a case for almost all of the show’s actors. The Duffers got really lucky with casting. My issues with how they landed the plane come from the writing, not the acting.

Here’s the video of them talking about Hopper’s casting. I’m including the entire episode in case anyone wants to watch to hear more about what the Duffers have to say about Stranger Things, but queued it to start at David’s question.

Photos credit: Getty Images for Netflix, Netflix press, Apple TV+ press