'Stranger Things' season 3 trailer crushes all hope of Hopper and Joyce starting a romantic relationship
The 'Stranger Things' season 3 trailer promised a delightful '80s summer as our favorite gang of teens from Hawkins, Indiana find moments of fun, friendship, and romance while facing dangers from antagonists scarier than anything they have seen before.
They aren't the only ones, though.
The trailer also showed everyone's beloved Chief Jim Hopper in the middle of a posh restaurant, all alone, waiting for what looks like a probable date, while Joyce Buyers sits at home in front of the TV screen, looking dubious.
This once again raised the biggest question that has haunted fans since the beginning of the show: Will Hopper and Joyce finally become something more than friends?
Ahead of the premiere of third season on 4th of July, David Harbour—who plays the confused but paternal figure Hopper on the show—has spoken about his hopes for his character, and Winona Ryder's Joyce Buyers becoming an actual couple.
"The fans they call it like 'Jopper' or something, they all ship this relationship with Hopper and Joyce and I do too," Harbour said in an episode of Beyond Stranger Things.
"I feel like they're two really lonely, lost people that really need each other. I sort of have always seen their relationship kind of like Chinatown with Faye Dunaway and Jack Nicholson. So you know we talked even about at the end of [season two] I was like 'Can they get together in some way?' and we were like 'What's gonna happen? Bob's dead and she's upset and he like ushers her into the bedroom?' I mean he can't be that much of a jerk."
The said Bob was a character introduced in season 2 as Joyce's boyfriend and Sean Astin played the role to perfection.
Sadly, like most good things, their relationship—a fan favorite one at that—came to an end as Bob died in the same season, leaving a heartbroken and lost Joyce behind.
Hopper, on the other hand, has a ruined marriage that had culminated with the loss of his child to cancer. The usually closeted and grumpy man might have been the father Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) never had, but clearly, he isn't as suave in the romance department, which somehow makes him quite perfect for the slightly whacky mom Joyce.
In a Los Angeles Times interview, Harbour hinted that "the sex would be a lot better with Hopper than it is with Bob," adding that he feels Jopper were definitely a thing in high school, and have some "unfinished business" they need to take care of.
That should give enough hope to fans for a potential relationship budding between the two weirdos, but unfortunately, the trailer raises plenty of doubts.
As made for each other as the two misfit parents might seem, it looks like Joyce just isn't on the same page as Hopper when it comes to romantic pursuits.
The trailer indicates that the two of them possibly decided to give dating a shot, and while Hopper went for it, Joyce wasn't able to leave her inhibitions behind.
Which makes total sense, because the woman almost lost her youngest son Will (Noah Schnapp) to the shadow monster in season 1, and, after years of loneliness, when she finally found a decent man, she lost him too at the end of the very next season.
It could be cold feet, or it could be some latent need to save herself from getting hurt again.
It looks like Joyce decides to stay away from Hopper. Maybe she sheds her hesitation and decides to give love another shot, but nothing will come easy. Not as smoothly as fans are hoping at least.
'Stranger Things' season 3 premieres on Thursday, July 4, only on Netflix.
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