At NYCC today, some of the cast of Stranger Things, including David Harbour (Hopper) and Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven), touched on a few topics that might be of interest to those of us who have been campaigning for some #JusticeForBarb.
SPOILERS for season one if you haven’t finished it yet, by the way.
Right up front: She’s dead. Harbour, who plays sad dad cop Hopper, said, “I can assure you Barb is very much dead.” That’s exactly what I imagine Hopper would say in-universe, so you better believe there’s some authority there. Many folks understood that bringing back Barb would have been a long shot, and speaking frankly, it would’ve been quite strange to see her just return (though that wouldn’t be the strangest thing, let’s be honest).
Harbour did promise, however, that there would be some justice for the internet-beloved character. In fact, he acknowledged the “internet rage” over her death, saying, “We will tell you that we do deal with the loose ends in season 2, and we do deal with some of the internet rage over Barbs’ death. We will have justice for Barb’s death in some sense.”
That pretty much lines up with what we’ve already heard from the Duffer brothers themselves. Matt Duffer said, “Barb will not be forgotten. We’ll make sure there’s some justice for Barb. People get very frustrated, understandably, that the town doesn’t seem to be really dealing with Barb. That stuff is all happening. We’re just not spending any screen time on it.” He went on to make the point that the first season takes place over about a week, a very short period of time. Season 2 will deal with the more further-flung repercussions of those events, as it takes place in the fall of that same year. So it would make sense, then, that Barb’s disappearance and subsequent death would impact the town and/or her family, at least.
As well, you’ll remember that Eleven vanished (assumed to have died) to destroy the monster that had been plaguing the town. After dodging a question regarding whether she’d return or not, Harbour answered a hypothetical asking him what he thinks it’d be like if Hopper adopted Eleven. “I would say there would be a rich emotional arc there that I would love to explore. I think there’s a lot of territory there.” He’s certainly right, and it would be very interesting to explore. It was revealed towards the end of the show that Hopper lost a daughter and has spent most of the time leading up to that week running away from the haunting thoughts surrounding that loss.
At the end of season 1, we see Hopper leaving behind some Eggo waffles in a storage box in the woods. Either Hopper knows something we don’t or it’s one man’s solemn vigil to a person who will likely go unthanked and unspoken about by the people they saved. Either way, it revealed some real emotional depth and instilled more than a little bit of hope that Eleven’s still out there somewhere… maybe.
(via Polygon)
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