David Harbour may no longer be in the Stranger Things inner circle when it comes to upcoming secrets for the show, but the Duffer brothers can't stop him from revealing the show's past ideas! Harbour recently revealed a hilariously wild Season 2 moment that was allegedly going to get used, but was eventually scrapped for...understandable reasons.
I go in the room sometimes and I talk to [the show creators] about ideas, and at one point, I said to them, because in Season 1, I punch a lot of people in the face, and it was one of my favorite things about the character is that he has a Harrison Ford-type quality where when he gets confused he just punches somebody. And then, Season 2, I don't punch anybody, the whole season. And they were like, 'We're gonna give you a really good punch. It's gonna be great.' I was like, 'What is it?' And they were like, 'Will, when he goes into a seizure, on the football field, nobody can get him out of the seizure and you punch him in the face and he comes out of the seizure.' . . . And then, finally, they were like, 'That's a terrible idea.' I loved it but it was so crazy, it was like, you can't have him punch him. The kid is a literal punching bag at that point. What else can we do to Will Byers? Let's get Hopper to punch him in the face because that's what he needs.
Stranger Things was apparently looking to give 13 Reasons Why a run for its money for most controversial moments by having Sheriff Hopper literally punch Will Byers out of a seizure. Luckily, reason and practicality swooped in at the last minute when everyone realized it may not be the best idea to have one of the show's biggest heroes punch a child convulsing on a football field. For the record, punching anyone who is having a seizure is not a medically sound treatment to stopping said event, so the show surely would've created some ridiculous additional controversy even beyond having a grown man deck a kid in the face.
Sheriff Hopper's punching scene, which David Harbour described on WTF With Marc Maron was wild, but perhaps not as questionable as what Stranger Things ultimately went with. The show opted out of a fist-fueled faith-healing of sorts and instead closed Episode 4 out with Will Byers convulsing on screen for a painful amount of time. The moment transformed what may have been seen as an unintentionally humorous moment into one of the most chilling moments of Stranger Things Season 2:
The seizure helped bring much acclaim to Noah Schnapp's performance in Season 2 of Stranger Things, but he might've only been destined for meme-dom had that scene gone the way of Hopper's left hook. As David Harbour said, Will was already a victimized character, and if Hopper would've decked him it just would've solidified that role for seasons to come. Instead, he's back to being a normal kid (perhaps) and certainly has the potential to be something outside of helpless in Season 3.
Stranger Things Season 3 is currently in production and will hit Netflix at some point in the future. For more on David Harbour, listen to why he thinks a relationship between Sheriff Hopper and Joyce Byers wouldn't be as grand as some fans think. For a look at things coming to the streaming platform in the meantime, visit our Netflix premiere guide. Those looking for a more general outline of new television coming out in the next couple of months can find what they need at our summer premiere guide.
