David Harbour Struggling to Get in ‘Stranger Things’ Shape After Weight Gain

His journey. David Harbour opened up about the challenges that he is facing when it comes to season 5 of Stranger Things — and it all comes down to Hopper’s fluctuating weight.

“Many of you have asked about Hopper’s physical transformation from season 3 to season 4. My trainer @davidhigginslondon worked with me for 8 months to make the transformation, and then another year to keep it through the pandemic,” Harbour, 47, explained alongside side-by-side Instagram photos of him as his character through the years on Thursday, July 21. “All told it was a difficult and exciting ride, changing diet and exercise plans (or lack thereof).”

The Black Widow actor noted that he had plans to do an Instagram Live with his trainer to discuss the hard work that went into creating Hopper’s drastic change. “Second pic is me and David the week we began, my resistances and fury flaring,” he continued, referring to the snaps of him documenting his weight loss. “And pic three is the shoot day, the black x’s are for cgi scarring because of problems with the practical effect.”

In the lengthy social media post, Harbour recalled losing over 75 pounds, writing, “265-270 in season 3 and all the way down to 190 when we shot. Recently ballooned up again to play jolly ole st. Nick in a flick I can’t wait for you to see this holiday season, so I am struggling to fight back down towards a good weight for wherever hopper ends up in season 5.”

The actor added: “All this up and down is not good for the body, and I’ll have to give it up soon, but it is such a fun part of the job to live in a different version of your skin for a while.”

During season 4, viewers saw Jim Hopper lose a significant amount of weight while stuck in a Russian labor camp. He was later rescued by his love interest, Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder), and friend Murray Bauman (Brett Gelman) before making his return to Hawkins, Indiana.

Harbour previously opened up about going how intermittent fasting and Pilates helped him reach his goal in eight months. “I lost about 80 pounds from season [3] — I was about 270 [then], and when we shot [season 4​​​​​​] I was around 190,” he told British GQ earlier this month. “I don’t think I’ll ever do that again. I have this Santa Claus movie [Violent Night] coming out for Universal in December and I gained [it all back]. But now, yeah, never again. The prosthetics are too good.”

Listen to Us Weekly’s Hot Hollywood as each week the editors of Us break down the hottest entertainment news stories!