‘Stranger Things’ Stars Winona Ryder and David Harbour’s Sweetest Comments About Playing Love Interests Joyce and Hopper

Credit: Netflix

'Stranger Things' Stars Winona Ryder and David Harbour's Sweetest Comments About Playing Love Interests Joyce and Hopper

Onscreen lovers and offscreen besties! Since Stranger Things debuted in 2016, Winona Ryder and David Harbour have gushed about getting the chance to collaborate on Joyce Byers and Jim Hopper's love story. The Netflix sci-fi series explored the fictional couple from two people caught up in their town's supernatural events to best friends who finally get the chance to take their relationship to the next level in season 4. According to Harbour, the development for Joyce and Hopper's romance (a.k.a. Jopper) was a longtime coming for him and Ryder. “It’s something that we’ve mapped out, how much they want to show is really up to them. Winona and I postulate a bunch of stuff, we have a bunch of theories. Some of them are very wild, and some of them are very tame,” he told Variety in May 2022, shortly after the first installment of season 4 premiered. “In general, they had a time in high school — they knew each other when they were super innocent, and they had all this potential, both of them." The actor noted that their characters had to come back together to have a second chance at something more. "Now they don’t have much potential. They’re sort of what they are. Knowing someone who, when you look in their eyes, you see that young person they were, is part of the bond between the two of them," the New York native continued. "They’ve known each other for so long and knew what you wanted to be and what you couldn’t be and what you couldn’t be. I think they have a very complex love for each other. It’s not just romantic. It’s much more complex than that.” At the time, Harbour pointed out that Joyce and Hopper weren't meant to work sooner than season 4. “I certainly feel like, from what happened in season 3, it couldn’t work. The guy from season 3 and woman from season 3 could not work,” he said. “Clearly there’s some chemistry and there is a longing for them to be together, but they would they would have to become different people.” The Suicide Squad actor later took to social media to praise his scene partner for her hard work over the years. “The vital beating heart behind every season of Stranger Things is Joyce and Winona Ryder’s stunning performance for the last seven years,” Harbour wrote via Instagram in June 2022. “Joyce will save her son, all the Hawkins kids, Hopper and the withering magnetism of her funky kitchen magnets.” In July 2022, viewers witnessed Joyce and Hopper's reunion in Russia — which led them to finally admit their feelings for one another. “I do think it’s a bit of fan service,” Harbour told GQ that same month about the onscreen pair. "I think there was a real appetite for mommy and daddy to get back together again. And then once we were on that train, it seemed like an inevitability." Scroll down for all Harbour and Ryder's sweetest quotes about bringing Hopper and Joyce's love to life: [podcast_block]

Credit: Curtis Baker/Netflix

Building a Bond

Harbour broke down his offscreen dynamic with Ryder during an October 2016 appearance at Phoenix Comicon Fan Fest.

“Winona gets very personal very quick. So we were almost like an old married couple right after I’d met her," he recalled during a Q&A with fans. “We would bicker like an old married couple, but we’d also share these really lovely moments. I certainly know for myself that my performance doesn’t work without her. Without her and her performance, my performance doesn’t make sense if that was another actress. I’m so grateful for what she brings, and all the heart and passion that she brings to her work.”

Credit: Netflix

Bringing Something Special to Life

During a joint interview in May 2018 for the Los Angeles Times, the Black Widow actor reflected on the lessons he learned from the Beetlejuice actress.

"She’s the greatest. She’s so willing to explore personal, intimate things that most actors get to a certain point and go, 'That’s enough.' And it’s exploring things about yourself that you don’t necessarily like, the complexities of the human psyche, which is messed up and strange and wonderful and mysterious and horrible," he explained at the time.

Harbour added: "I do feel like there are moments where you fall in love with Winona. It feels like a marriage, where we’re willing to go the distance in that way that gets really uncomfortable. I want to do a scene with Winona where I get so messed up that I have to go back to my trailer and cry."

Credit: Jackson Lee Davis/Netflix

The Perfect Collaboration

For Ryder, sharing scenes with Harbour allowed her to push herself in her craft.

"A lot of actors are, like, 'Acting is lying.' But it’s actually finding the truth. The feeling to go there but also feeling safe and protected," she shared with the LA Times. "And I just feel like I’m so incredibly lucky to have him. I don’t know what I’d do without him. I really mean it."

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A Career Highlight

"Professionally, I've had kind of a crush on Winona Ryder for a long time because I do think she's one of the greatest actors of her generation," the Marvel star gushed in a promo video with Ryder that Netflix shared in July 2022. "I grew up with her movies and she's just so talented and intuitive, and genuine, and real and has like a huge heart. To be let into that world is a dream come true."

Credit: Courtesy Netflix

Their Joint Journey

The Heathers actress praised Harbour in an interview for Netflix in July 2022: "Working with David has been a beautiful experience. I admire him so much. I love the way he surprises me both in life and in takes. This is my first series, so to work with someone for seven years has been absolutely incredible."