David Harbour Says He Worries About The Child Stars Of 'Stranger Things'

16 August 2018, 17:48

By Woodrow Whyte

"I try to just treat them as kids as much as I possibly can. I think it's nice if the world does as well."

Stranger Things’ David Harbour has come out expressing his worries over the kid stars of the hit Netflix show.

He may play the over-protective dad figure Hopper on our screens, but David has voiced some legitimate concerns regarding the younger actors.

In a recent interview, David was quoted saying: "I worry about them because they are, like, developing brains and psyches — it can also be somewhat addictive, the limelight. It can also be scary and make you feel fearful or sort of nervous. So yeah, it's really hard on those kids and I try to just treat them as kids as much as I possibly can. I think it's nice if the world does as well."

This isn’t the first time David has spoken out about his worries over the Stranger Things kids. He told GQ in 2017: “I’m protective of [Millie Bobby Brown]. I want her to grow up to become Meryl Steep. I don’t want her in rehab at 20, or whatever, because she’s a child star. I know she’s super talented, but they all were talented and there is this trajectory of tension and spotlight placed on a young, developing person, which, to me, is terrifying, seen through parental eyes.”

You can see his point - when kids have been catapulted to fame, they have to grow up in the public eye, and it happens fast. Young stars often end up missing out on their childhood, and that’s a scary thought. So it’s super sweet that David wants them to know that they don’t have to grow up too fast! He really is the dad of the cast.

David’s fears may not be too far fetched though, as the young cast have already experienced their fair share of negativity due to their fame. Earlier this year, Eleven actress Millie Bobby Brown took down her Twitter account after a meme in which users shared falsified instances of her being homophobic started spreading. This malicious campaign was even fronted with the hashtag TakeMillieBobbyBrownDown. Similarly, Finn Wolfhard (who plays Mike Wheeler on the show) found himself interrupted by Stranger Things fans as he attempted to play shows with his band, Calpurnia. He described their first few shows as "pretty cringey just because people were screaming Stranger Things references." Awkward.

David concluded the interview with a teaser of what we can expect from Stranger Things 3: “I wish I could characterize the season, but to me it's so big. For example, did you find last season to be darker? There were certainly elements of it that were scary, but I thought there was also a lot of fun, a lot of joy and a lot of silliness, with Steve being a dad and the kids as Ghostbusters. Just taking my story, for example, it's fun to see Hopper having adopted Eleven. She's become legitimized in the society, in the world of Hawkins. And he's a father now. He's raising a teenage daughter, with all that that entails. So I think that can be pretty funny to see his inadequacies in all of this.”

We. can't. wait.