David Harbour has finally addressed the rumors about tension between him and his Stranger Things co-star Millie Bobby Brown.
Just one week after Harbour’s ex, Lily Allen, released her scathing October 2025 breakup album West End Girl, a report claimed that Brown, 22, had filed a harassment and bullying claim against her co-star, 51, before they started shooting the show’s final season.
Speaking to Variety about the report and its timing, Harbour said it was “a weird thing” that “came out in a weird way.”
“It’s a show that went on for 10 years. We worked together for 10 years during her formative teenage years, playing father and daughter,” he explained. “I don’t know if people have families and friends that you spend a lot of time with for 10 years — you occasionally get in arguments, disagreements.
“In families, it’s OK because you’re just in a disagreement and then you come back together. The problem with a billion-dollar show is that there’s just hundreds of people who want to get involved.”
Harbour even hinted at a future working relationship with Brown, saying: “You’ll see more of me and Millie — 10 years wasn’t enough. There is a special bond there. I love her. She loves me.”
For her part, Brown told Variety via email: “Obviously I changed so much from Season 1 to Season 5, and David was there through all of it. Over time, our relationship became much more collaborative creatively. When you work with someone for that many years, we could really push each other emotionally in scenes. Even though the series has ended, there’s still a lot of gratitude. Getting to share that experience with him for so many years is something I’ll always remember and value.”
Throughout the five seasons of Stranger Things, Harbour played Hawkins police department chief Jim Hopper, who adopted Brown’s character Eleven at the end of the first season.
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Shortly before the season five premiere, the Daily Mail, citing an unnamed source, reported that Brown filed “pages and pages of accusations” against Harbour before filming began on the Netflix series’ final season. Netflix reportedly investigated the claims “for months,” the Mail reported. Harbour and Brown were co-stars on the Netflix megahit for a decade.
Amid the rift rumors in November, Brown and Harbour put on a united front at the Stranger Things season five premiere in Los Angeles and were pictured hugging and smiling while posing for photos on the red carpet at the TCL Chinese Theatre together.
Brown then spoke about her relationship with Harbour shortly after the premiere. Asked what their connection meant to her, she said: “So much, so much. I mean, we play father and daughter.”
“And similar to Noah [Schnapp] and Winona [Ryder], you have an amazing friendship,” she told Entertainment Tonight.
