David Harbour gives update on Stranger Things season 5 filming start date

Hopper in Stranger Things 4
(Image credit: Netflix)

Stranger Things star David Harbour, who plays Jim Hopper, has given an update on filming for the final season of the hit Netflix show. 

"We're walking into season five," Harbour said during a panel at this year's Middle East Film & Comic Con in Abu Dhabi (via Collider). I've got a couple more months to train. We start shooting that in June, though, and that will be the final season. I did a lot of training for season four. [Hopper] was in a very specific position, that Russian prison. It was about making him a different guy and sort of shedding a layer of himself physically, mentally, and emotionally. But now he's back in town, he's back in America where they have cheeseburgers, so he will be well-fed."

While Hopper spent most of season 4 imprisoned in Russia, forced to battle a Demogorgon, he was reunited with Joyce (Winona Ryder) and Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) at the end of part 2. Plot details for the show's final installment are being kept tightly under wraps for now, but we know that the new season will consist of eight episodes and their runtimes won't be as "extreme" as season 4. Every episode in the most recent season clocked in at over an hour, with the finale totaling two hours and 30 minutes.

While we wait for Stranger Things season 5 to arrive on the streamer, check out our picks of the other best Netflix shows that you can watch right now. Or, look ahead and fill out your watch list with our guide to all the best new TV shows on the way in 2023 and beyond. 

Entertainment Writer

I’m an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering everything film and TV-related across the Total Film and SFX sections. I help bring you all the latest news and also the occasional feature too. I’ve previously written for publications like HuffPost and i-D after getting my NCTJ Diploma in Multimedia Journalism.