Actor Tipped To Play Young Hopper Was Forced To Defend Playing Character Who Fans Said Was ‘Too Evil’

Euphoria’s Jacob Elordi has defended his character Nate Jacobs’ villainous traits, as David Harbour called for the Aussie star to play Chief Jim Hopper in a Stranger Things prequel.

The 25-year-old is best known for bringing the morally corrupt and manipulative East Highland High School quarterback to life on the HBO drama series.

Despite all of Nate’s shortcomings, which include and are not limited to, a disturbing lack of remorse and toxic masculinity, Elordi said that the character’s questionable actions are a by-product of him reacting to terrible things that have happened to him.

Speaking to GQ Magazine in 2020, the star was asked 'did the show make Nate too evil?' as he answered some of his fans' burning questions.

For some Elordi’s response may surprise them as he began: "I don't think they made Nate too evil. No.

"I think he has the perfect balance of terrible things happening to him and he reacts accordingly to the things that are happening in his life.

"You know what I mean? I kind of feel like, obviously he doesn't have much of a moral conscience, but I think his evil actions are justified by sort of what happens to him.

"And I don't really think he's a villain either."

HBO

While Elordi’s empathy and compassion for Nate Jacobs knows no bounds, the character was previously branded 'the most terrifying and realistic villain on TV right now' by Entertainment Weekly.

The publication wrote at the time, 'he [Nate Jacobs] represents an honest and unflinching look at the intersections between rich white male privilege, white male rage, and toxic masculinity, and how these power imbalances start relatively young'. Erp.

However, it is this visceral reaction among audiences that make Elordi’s portrayal of the Patrick-Bateman-in-the-making so impressive.

And it seems his skills haven’t gone unnoticed amongst his peers with David Harbour recently saying he would love the Deep Water star to play Chief Jim Hopper in a Stranger Things prequel or spin-off.

The Netflix show is due to come to an end with season five, but the Duffer Brothers have already confirmed they are working on a spin-off series. Although the pair have kept stum about any potential ideas.

In light of the plans, Harbour shared his thoughts about where lovable Hopper could hypothetically go next and revealed he would love to see Elordi take on a youthful Hopper within the Hawkins universe.

Netflix

When asked about his character, and the ways in which the Stranger Things universe could continue to explore Hopper’s backstory in a possible prequel, Harbour told British GQ: "At this point, I think Hopper is a character that can exist independent of me.

"If they wanna go back in time, forward in time… I’d love to see another actor play Hopper, and see what they can bring to it."

Notably, the interviewer later adds that Harbour followed up their conversation with an email to say that he thinks Elordi could take on the role of young Hopper.

He quipped: "He could pull off being as handsome as I was at 20."

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Topics: Film and TV, Stranger Things

Lisa McLoughlin