Millie Bobby Brown And David Harbour On What They Really Think About Working Together On ‘Stranger Things’

Stranger Things Season 5 is finally premiering this November, and fans can’t wait to see the Hawkins gang back in action. But just before the big comeback, things took an unexpected turn behind the scenes. Reports revealed that Millie Bobby Brown had filed a harassment and bullying complaint against her co-star David Harbour.

Millie Bobby Brown and David Harbour rose to fame together on the Netflix hit series, which debuted in 2016. Brown plays Eleven, a young girl with psychokinetic powers, while Harbour portrays Jim Hopper, the town’s police chief and Eleven’s adoptive father. Their on-screen relationship became one of the show’s emotional cores, often reflecting a tumultuous but deep father-daughter bond.

Photo from Netflix

Off-screen, their relationship initially mirrored this protective dynamic. Harbour, who is older by nearly three decades, has described feeling a “deep fatherly affection” for Brown, whom he knew from a very young age before her fame skyrocketed. He has spoken publicly about his concern for her well-being amid the pressures of stardom.

Photo from Kevork Djansezian/BAFTA LA

However, this seemingly close relationship took a troubling turn ahead of the filming of Stranger Things’ fifth and final season. In 2024, before shooting began, Brown filed an extensive harassment and bullying complaint against Harbour. The complaint reportedly included multiple pages of accusations, prompting a months-long internal investigation. While details and outcomes of this investigation are undisclosed, it has been confirmed that the allegations did not involve sexual misconduct.

During the final season’s production, Brown reportedly had a personal representative on set to support her. This change came as a surprise to many fans, especially after how close they seemed before.

Millie Bobby Brown on Working With David Harbour

Brown has often shared how close she is to Harbour, describing him and Winona Ryder as “like another set of parents.” “On set, they’re like, ‘Stop running, what are you eating, why are you eating that?’” she said in an interview in 2018. “David is like, ‘Another boy?’”

Photo from Getty Images for Netflix

Speaking at PaleyFest that same year, Brown, who was 14 then, opened up about their emotional bond. “We went through so many different emotions … we get angry at each other, we are like father and daughter,” she said. “We got angry at each other, we would express our feelings on and off the set, and … those scenes were so raw and real that the reward is the scenes.”

Photo from Lester Cohen

In a 2016 interview with The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Brown called Harbour a “big teddy bear” who made her feel safe while filming. “He’s funny, he’s serious when he needs to be, and he’s always looking out for me,” she added.

Her most recent comments came in an October 2025 interview. “David and I connected on another level,” she said. “He always looked out for me, and I always annoyed him like a daughter or a younger sister. I was always trying to climb all over him and he was always rolling his eyes and laughing at me.”

Photo from Getty Images

David Harbour on Working With Millie Bobby Brown

Harbour has also been open about his fatherly bond with Brown and the rest of the young Stranger Things cast, including Finn Wolfhard, Noah Schnapp, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, and Sadie Sink.

Photo from Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Netflix

He said in an interview in 2020 that at first, he kept a “stern and serious” attitude off-camera to stay in character as Hopper. “[I wanted to] preserve a lot of the character of Hopper off-screen for these kids because I wanted their performances to be as rich as possible,” he explained. “But then as the seasons go on, you just become like a family, and my sort of soft heart gets exposed, and they start to be able to not really take me seriously anymore.”

“Millie and I have always had sort of a special relationship because I knew her when she was so young. I knew her before any of this big fame hit,” "I think she's in the crosshairs of something extremely dangerous that nobody seems to be paying attention to. As someone who gets this famous and still has a brain that is not fully developed, [this] is an extremely difficult thing to navigate, and I hope that she gets the help that she needs. I know that I try to protect her as much as I can.”

Neither Brown, Harbour, nor Netflix have commented on the allegations publicly.