The SAG-AFTRA strike has officially ended, and David Harbour is ready to return to Hawkins as the beloved, curmudgeonly police chief Jim Hopper.
On the red carpet for the BoxLunch Gala honoring Feeding America, where Harbour was named the Giving Ambassador, he expressed his excitement to return to the set of “Stranger Things.” He relayed a sense of urgency to get back to work, sharing that production could resume in just “a couple of days.”
When asked what comes first on his post-strike agenda, Harbour said, “I mean, we got to film that last season of ‘Stranger Things,’ don’t we? I got to be down there, like, in a couple of days. We got to get going — we’re late.”
Production for the final season of the Duffer Brothers’ hit Netflix series, which infuses classic sci-fi elements with 1980s nostalgia, was halted alongside other film and television projects when the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes commenced earlier this year.
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At the gala, the actor also made a surprise donation of $100,000 to the charity. “I did not want a very handsome young actor who was last year’s ambassador to outdo me in any way,” Harbour told Variety referencing last year’s ambassador Simu Liu. “So that’s really the motivation. But no, of course, it’s a charity that’s near and dear to my heart, and so I want to contribute what I can to help out.”
“I just really like the way [Feeding America] addresses a fundamental issue,” Harbour said. “With all of the rage that is in our society… there’s still this fundamental issue of people going hungry in America that I think doesn’t get talked about a lot in the news.”
His Ambassadorship will include multiple fundraising events with video components. What are these elements, Harbour can’t say just yet, but he remarked that he’s been inspired by the Twitch fundraisers he’s seen online. Plus he’s not totally against live streaming himself playing video games online. “I hunker down with a couple different video games and have any excuse to just sit down. My wife will yell at me, ‘Get off the computer!’ I’ll just go, ‘It’s for charity!'”
The holiday gala took place at Academy LA, where Simu Liu took to the stage, on crutches, to officially pass the Giving Ambassador torch to his Marvel mate.
“I wouldn’t miss this moment for the world. Except maybe the opportunity to walk, but that’s okay,” Liu, who has an injured achilles, joked.
He also gave a shout out to those in the crowd wearing “Barbie” jackets: “I’ve been holding my tongue on so many Ken puns…but I am Kenough, I can finally say that.”
He went on to praise Harbour for the commendable qualities he shows on and off screen: “This year’s giving ambassador is an absolute class act. You may know him for pulling at our heart strings as everyone’s favorite sheriff in ‘Stranger Things.’ Or inspiring us to put the pedal to the medal in ‘Gran Turismo.’ Or, as I will always remember him, as the man who just now mistaken Joel McHale for John Henson backstage.”
Liu concluded his speech by saying, “But let me tell you that care and inspiration isn’t just superb acting. He truly is the embodiment of fandom and philanthropy and action, making him the perfect fit for BoxLunch.”
Taking the stage, Harbour joked to his predecessor, “Guess your job is no longer Giving Ambassador, you got to go back to beach. That’s Ken’s job, it’s beach.”
In his speech, Harbour pointed out that every $10 spent at BoxLunch means donating a meal to someone in need in your own community; to date they have given out over 175 million meals. He called on listeners to engage further with the cause however they are able.
The gala was hosted by Joel McHale of “Community,” who wove his signature comedic voice into the evening’s programming. The night also included a magic show performed by Kevin Li, and two musical performances by Anika Noni Rose, known as the voice of Tiana in “The Princess and the Frog.”
Rose kicked things off with the classic song “Goody Goody” and concluded the evening with a rendition of “My Grown Up Christmas List,” a fitting holiday song calling for peace and justice in the name of common humanity.
On the red carpet, Harbour also spoke to Variety about the significance of the strike and what the new contract means for up-and-coming actors. He reflected on the protections for artists secured by the tentative deal between SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP, and how it compares to his experience as a burgeoning young actor in New York in the early 2000s.
“We used to have a show there called ‘Law and Order,’” he said. “And we would all work on off-Broadway shows where they’re literally allowed to pay you nothing. And then Dick Wolf would hire us for an episode of ‘Law and Order.’ And we would be able to live for a year on that episode of ‘Law and Order’ and train to become the actors, the stars, that we are today. And I don’t think that I would have been able to survive without that model.”
He continued to praise the advancements that came out of the ongoing negotiations, saying, “I think one of the beautiful things now is that we are taking care of people who are still training to become the stars of tomorrow — by giving them a living wage. I think that’s fantastic.”
Harbour’s Hopper is known for both his gruff personality and an underlying tenderness that endears him to audiences. Though “Stranger Things” is soon drawing to a close, Harbour doesn’t want to leave his character behind entirely.
Asked what qualities of Hopper’s he’d like to take with him beyond the series, Harbour said, “I hope not his broken, inability to express his emotions directly… But certainly his strength, his courage, his dedication. His powerful love for his family, and for right and wrong — his ideas of justice.”
