Stranger Things fans have noticed that the name of a main cast member is not being listed as appearing in the forthcoming season.
With the fourth season currently filming, fans have been hoping for the return of David Harbour‘s Jim Hopper, the police chief of Hawkins, Indiana, who seemingly died in the season three finale.
The scene in question sees him sacrifice himself so that the other characters, including eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), can escape a facility manned by Russian spies.
This led to the theory that Hopper had himself escaped via a portal into the Upside Down, and would spend the majority of the next season stuck there, or that the Russians had kidnapped him.
Lending weight to this theory was the post-credit scene that mentioned a mysterious character, who is referred to “the American” – although some are believing the identity of this individual could mark the return of a season one villain.
A spanner has been truly thrown in the works following the revelation that IMDb is no longer listing Harbour as appearing in season four, though.
A keen-eyed Reddit user highlighted the omission, writing: “If you click on the episode guide on the right of each actor’s name, the drop down menu shows the first few episodes of Stranger Things 4 for all the kids, including the older ‘kids’ Steve (Joe Keery), Nancy (Natalia Dyer), Jonathan (Charlie Heaton), Robin (Maya Hawke).”
Winona Ryder is also listed as appearing, which marks Harbour’s omission even more glaring.
It’s worth noting that IMDb is not as reliable as people assume when it comes to listing cast members for films and television shows, but intentionally leaving Harbour’s name out of the promotional materials for what is expected to be the Netflix show’s penultimate season could be a clever way of throwing people off the scent of what could be a huge return.
Find everything you need to know about Stranger Things season four here.
