Though David Harbour is currently making the PR rounds for his role in Marvel’s Black Widow, he’s still best known for his role as the lovable Sheriff Jim Hopper on Stranger Things. And while the 46-year-old and his young co-stars on the megahit Netflix series have had nothing but wonderful things to say about each other since the show began, there is one former colleague who Harbour harbors no love for: the pooch who had the misfortune of being cast as the Byers’ family dog in season 1, as The Hollywood Reporter noted.
Blame it on the capsaicin if you must. Earlier this week, Harbour appeared on the popular YouTube series Hot Ones to chow down on some spicy wings and talk about a range of topics, from Shakespeare to Stranger Things. When someone brought up the fact that Harbour had previously had some harsh words to say about the pooch that played the Byers’ pup on Netflix’s ode to the ’80s, the actor did not hesitate in admitting: “I hated that f***ing dog so bad.”
The way Harbour tells it, the dog in question was not as well-trained as the showrunners had been led to believe, which made working with him rather impossible.
“Take after take it would wander off or do something,” Harbour said. “And then I remember the trainer on the sidelines going, ‘Come on! We got to make our money!’ Yeah, I walked up to them, and I was like, ‘You know, the Byers should probably have that dog put to sleep next season.’”
Whether it was Harbour who made the poor pupper disappear or a decision made independently by the powers that be, the dog hasn’t been seen since season 1—and no one’s even made mention of it since. But Harbour has an idea of how to creatively address the mystery of Chester’s disappearance: “We should find it in the Upside Down in one of these future seasons.”
You can watch the full clip below.
(Via The Hollywood Reporter)