David Harbor Thought Netflix Would Cancel Stranger Things After ‘Disaster’ First Season

‘Stranger Things’ is over, and even though Netflix has found a solid replacement in the wildly popular “KPop Demon Hunters,” the streamer will still struggle to repeat the success of its biggest show. However, according to Jim Hopper actor David Harbour, no one saw any of this coming. He even expected “Stranger Things” to be canceled after just one season.

Nothing will ever replace “Stranger Things.” The Netflix show represented THE streaming series, becoming a cultural phenomenon and capturing the imagination of an entire generation. The controversial finale, which left many of ‘Stranger Things” big questions unanswered even grossed as much as $30 million at the box office, cementing the series’ status as the most popular streaming series of all time. As such, it’s quite funny to think that the series was considered an underdog when it debuted almost a decade ago.

Back in 2016, when the first season of “Stranger Things” came out, creators Matt and Ross Duffer had no idea they had just introduced a series that would become a cultural phenomenon. But after 18 Emmy nominations and an outpouring of support from fans, Netflix and the Duffers found themselves with a major hit on their hands. This must have been nice considering no one expected the show to do much before its surprise success. In fact, no one thought the show would last beyond one season, including Harbor, who says everyone involved thought “Stranger Things” would be a disaster.

Of all seasons of “Stranger Things”it’s the first set of episodes that still hold up best today. Season 5 dropped the ball in so many ways that it’s doomed to live in infamy. But in 2016, the series was a fresh and exciting new addition to the streaming sphere.

Still, the success of “Stranger Things” season 1 came as a big surprise to everyone involved. The series had no major stars aside from Winona Ryder who played Joyce Byers on the series and wasn’t exactly at its peak in 2016. Meanwhile, the Duffer Brothers’ previous experience involved direct-to-video horror and serving as writers on Fox’s most overlooked series, “Wayward Pines.” Additionally, Netflix didn’t push the series as the brothers might have hoped. As Ross Duffer told Los Angeles Times in 2017, “That’s what they told us: They said, ‘Don’t panic if you don’t see a ton of marketing.’ They thought it was going to get word of mouth and it was going to build.”

But very quickly, the series takes off and surprises everyone. “I think it built faster than they thought,” Ross continued. “I think it was faster than expected, obviously.” Talk to Business Insider David Harbor explained how he and almost everyone else was caught off guard by the popularity of Season 1. “By the time we finished, we finished, I thought we wouldn’t have a second season,” he said. “We would be the first Netflix series to never get a second season. We thought no one would watch it, it was going to be a disaster.” Obviously things didn’t turn out that way and now we might see more of Hopper and Joyce yet.

THE ‘Stranger Things’ Season 5 Finale Was Full of Mistakeslogical inconsistencies and unresolved plotlines. Many fans were furious at Eleven’s fateand still others were confused as to what happened to important characters who seemed to have been forgotten during the episode’s 40-minute epilogue. Still, there’s no doubt that the finale was a major success for Netflix and the Duffers in terms of the number of people who watched, discussed, and continued to dissect the episode. There is even a widely held theory known as “Conformity Gate” which suggested the finale was a fake episode and that Netflix was preparing to launch the “real” finale on January 7, 2025. That didn’t happen, but it’s a testament to fans’ dedication and obsession with this series.

Considering no one thought this series would last beyond season 1, that’s a pretty good result (as long as you ignore all the problems from the final season). But in reality, it is not the final result. The ‘Stranger Things’ finale may have sneakily teased the spinoff via a scene featuring Joyce Byers and Jim Hopper in which they discuss their move to Montauk. Or maybe not.

For now, details on the spin-offs are scarce. What we do know is that Netflix figured out how to keep ‘Stranger Things’ going forever with the animated prequel series “Stranger Things: Tales From ’85”, which takes place between seasons 2 and 3 of the series proper. But there’s also a live-action spinoff that could very well focus on Hopper and Joyce in their new life together. This would mean that the two have truly come a long way from a series that they thought wouldn’t last beyond season 1.