David Harbour reflects on the magical first season of 'Stranger Things' at Hollywood FYC event

• David Harbour described the first season of Stranger Things as a "magical experience" and a miraculous time in his life
• He praised the natural, unselfconscious quality of young castmates including Millie Bobby Brown and Noah Schnapp
• Harbour called season five a landmark achievement in cinematic storytelling within a television format
  

The tables were turned on David Harbour, the elder statesman of Stranger Things, at a Thursday FYC event held at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, when he was invited to reflect on what he had learnt from his younger castmates on the Netflix thriller-drama series.

"Uh, nothing," he quipped initially, before going on to describe the first season of the Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer-created show as a "magical experience."

Harbour praises Duffer Brothers' cinematic vision in season five

The twice Emmy-nominated actor spoke warmly about the scale of the show's final chapter, suggesting that season five "transcends character" and becomes more "about Matt and Ross' vision — which became so large and epic in scale and scope and the things that they accomplished cinematically in a TV format, I've never seen done before, and I think is to be applauded and celebrated."

Characteristically, Harbour joked that his personal "favourite season" was season one — "I was thinner," he added.

Young castmates were 'enjoyable as hell,' says Harbour

Returning to the original question — his answer occasionally disrupted by a failing microphone feed, which he attributed to "Hawkins power and lights coming together" — Harbour offered a heartfelt tribute to the show's young leads.

The ensemble included Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, and Noah Schnapp, among others, and Harbour said they "were just enjoyable as hell."

He elaborated on what set them apart from other child performers he had encountered throughout his career.

"A lot of kid actors that you work with are very actor-y and they really know what they're doing, and part of the strength of the actors that they formed were that, at their essence, Noah and all these little kids were just kind of kids.

"Even during takes, they would fart and do things that were — you just couldn't believe that you had the relaxation to do that in front of a camera that was spinning.

"I was like, 'That's incredible relaxation. I would dream of being able to do that. Not being self-conscious in that way.'"

Director and executive producer Shawn Levy interjected: "That's something you learned."

"But I can't do it. I tried, Shawn," Harbour responded, before continuing: "No, so, real beautiful human beings. They were just a joy to work with, and I had a blast. I look back on that [first] season as just being a miraculous time in my life.

"Hopper was a very depressed individual; it was really tough to go through the acting of that, but the family we created and the story we were telling, I don't know if I've ever felt that enriched by some work that I was doing."

Stranger Things' legacy spans five seasons, twelve Emmys, and multiple spinoffs

Stranger Things launched on Netflix in 2016 to immediate critical and commercial success, concluding its five-season run on New Year's Eve of last year. The series has accumulated twelve Emmy wins and remains eligible as an awards contender this year.

The franchise has since expanded considerably, spawning an animated spinoff, Stranger Things: Tales from '85, which has recently been renewed for a second season, as well as a Broadway prequel production that has been recorded for a future feature release.