David Harbour has revealed he’s struggling to lose weight before Stranger Things season five starts filming.
The actor, who plays Hopper in the blockbuster sci-fi show, dropped more than five stone for season four, in which his character is imprisoned in a Russian gulag.
Harbour opened up about his weight fluctuation in a recent Instagram post, admitting ‘all this up and down is not good for the body’.
Highlighting his colossal weight loss by sharing side-by-side photos of Hopper in season three and four, Harbour told his nine million social media followers that he worked with trainer David Higgins for eight months to totally transform his body.
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However, the pandemic hit, delaying season four’s filming, which meant Harbour had to work with Higgins for an extra year just to keep the weight off until shooting resumed.
Harbour’s post read in part: “Many of you have asked about Hopper’s physical transformation from season 3 to season 4.
“My trainer @davidhigginslondon worked with me for 8months to make the transformation, and then another year to keep it through the pandemic. All told it was a difficult and exciting ride, changing diet and exercise plans (or lack thereof).”
The star then explained he’d piled weight back on again for a recent film, in which he plays Santa Claus, adding: “Recently ballooned up again to play jolly ole st. Nick in a flick I can’t wait for you to see this holiday season, so I am struggling to fight back down towards a good weight for wherever hopper ends up in season 5.
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“All this up and down is not good for the body, and I’ll have to give it up soon, but it is such a fun part of the job to live in a different version of your skin for a while.”
Harbour actually lost so much weight for the fourth season of the Netflix show that he had to wear prosthetics for a series of flashback scenes.
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In another Instagram post, Harbour explained he suggested to the Duffer brothers – the writers of the series – that at the end of season three, they should 'shoot the flashbacks post death’ because of the issues there would be with continuity after he shed so much weight.
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The actor continued: "But they hadn’t been written yet. Luckily, we had the miraculous @barriegower come in and give me the ‘fuller hopper’ face.
"I hate prosthetics, but Barry/team made it as painless as possible. The results speak for themselves."
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Topics: Stranger Things, David Harbour