David Harbour has dropped out of an upcoming movie starring Pedro Pascal, Eva Victor, Olivia Wilde, and Matthew Lillard, allegedly to rest after feeling “overwhelmed” by the wrapping up of Netflix show Stranger Things.
Harbour, who plays Jim Hopper in Stranger Things, has exited Behemoth!, the drama from Rogue One writer and Andor creator Tony Gilroy, Variety confirmed.
Variety said “multiple insiders familiar with the project said Harbour was overwhelmed by the series wrap of Stranger Things — a monthslong episodic rollout and global water cooler moment with intense press scrutiny — and stepped away from the project to rest.”
It is not known who will now play David Harbour’s recast character.
Stranger Things came to an end on New Year’s Eve with a 2-hour finale that saw Hopper and the rest of the characters finally defeat Vecna. It closes the door on a show that began on Netflix nearly a decade ago, with the weight of expectation of a huge online fandom that has spent years digging through every detail.
In June last year, Harbour indicated that he was ready to be hanging up the badge. "You get to a certain point where you’re like, 'How much more story is there?' You’re having to play a lot of the same beat," Harbour told Scarlett Johansson during a conversation for Interview Magazine. "And there’s a feeling where you’re like, 'I want to take a risk. I want to do something that people haven’t seen me do before.' So yeah, after 10 years, it’s like, 'Okay.'"
He said: "It’s a funny position I’m in, which I never thought I would be in. The first year of Stranger Things, I remember having a discussion with a publicist and her saying: ‘maybe you don’t want to be associated with the show so much.'
"I was like, ‘Why? I love this show. I love the character.’ And I do love the show. And I do love the character. But I don’t want to be just that character. I don’t want to be just that guy."
Harbour compared himself to George Clooney during his time playing Doug Ross on medical drama series ER, saying the now incredibly successful and famous film star was once just "the guy from ER.”
"I'm trying to navigate some of that, and it’s tricky because you don’t want to s**t on the people that love you for this thing that you did that you also love," Harbour added.
"But at the same time, you kind of want to leave the nest. I got more in me. I got different stuff in me, and I want you guys to see that. I don’t want people yelling ‘Hopper’ on the street every five minutes the rest of my life."
In November, Harbour and Eleven actress Millie Bobby Brown appeared at a high-profile Stranger Things Season 5 red carpet premiere, posing together for a series of cosy photos but steering clear of media interviews.
At the same event, director Shawn Levy and Stranger Things co-creator Matt Duffer were both asked about the situation between the series' stars, following the publication just days earlier of a Daily Mail report that stated Brown had lodged "harassment and bullying" complaints against Harbour and had subsequently been accompanied by a personal assistant whenever on set.
Harbour plays Alexei Shostakov / Red Guardian in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and starred in last year’s Thunderbolts*. He is set to reprise the role in Avengers: Doomsday, due out this December.
Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
The most expensive Pokémon card in the world has been put up for sale by Logan Paul, the wrestler and influencer who previously paid $5.3 million for it.
Paul's mint condition, PSA 10-rated Pikachu Artist holds the Guinness World Record as the most expensive Pokémon trading card in existence — but it seems like the card could now be sold for an even higher amount.
If you have a few million dollars spare to make a bid, Paul has said he'll add to the card's value by throwing in a bejeweled chain (which he says is worth another $75,000) and hand deliver it to the auction's ultimate winner. Paul wore the card and chain during his WWE debut at WrestleMania 38, and again for his bout against Anthony Joshua in Miami last month.
Whether all of this does ultimately add to the card's value or not, the sale via auction site Goldin has already attracted interest — with early bids up to $2.1 million and 39 days still to go.
Why is this card so expensive? Only 40 copies of the Pikachu Illustrator card were ever manufactured, and given away to winners of a 1998 Japanese fan contest. Of these, only one has been given the unsurpassable PSA 10 quality rating — and it's this card that Paul bought back in 2021 in an exchange for a lower-grade Pikachu Illustrator (valued at $1.275 million) alongside $4 million in cash.
In the ranks of expensive collectible card game sales, Paul's $5.3 million card stands several million higher than anything else, including a Magic: The Gathering Black Lotus sold in 2024 for $3 million in bitcoin. The only question now is how high this new auction reaches.
Cannily, Paul has set the sale to end next month, in the run-up to the 30th anniversary of the Pokémon franchise, when excitement around the brand will be at its peak. Fans are expecting a major announcement by The Pokémon Company, with new video games and a 10th generation of the franchise's creatures anticipated, alongside more details of the promising-looking Pokémon life simulation spin-off Pokémon Pokopia. Paul, meanwhile, is likely anticipating a healthy payday.
Image credit: Goldin, Bradlee Rutledge/WWE via Getty Images
Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
Now Stranger Things has come to an end, fans are wondering what’s next from the wider Stranger Things universe. Some have speculated that a sequel of sorts could be in the works, one that checks in on the main characters maybe a decade after the events of the Season 5 finale.
But the Duffer brothers, co-creators and showrunners of Stranger Things, have ruled a sequel out, saying making such a thing would come across as a “gross cash grab.”
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Matt Duffer explained why the Season 5 finale works as the definitive end for the story.
“Mike’s closing the basement door,” he said. “We’re closing the door on the story. That’s one reason we had the closing credits the way we did, because it was a way of saying: ‘this is finite. This is the end of their story. It’s the end of the story of Mike and Eleven and Joyce and Hopper. So, no, there’s no plan or intention to tell the story because it’s a coming-of age story. Ultimately, that’s what it’s supposed to be. That’s what the show always was. When he closes the door to the basement, he’s closing the door on his childhood and he’s moving onto adulthood.”
Matt Duffer went on to wonder out loud about the prospect of a sequel that revisits the characters years later, but ultimately ruled it out.
“I mean, I guess a sequel could be about a midlife crisis,” he said. “That just sounds really uninteresting! (Laughs.) Grandpa Hopper? I don’t know how that would read as anything but a gross cash grab to me. I wish I could talk a little bit more about the [live-action] spinoff, but I’m not allowed to yet. But Ross and I are really excited about exploring new characters and a new mythology, but still very much are interested in telling a story in the spirit of Stranger Things. It feels like with this final season, we finished saying everything we wanted to say about these characters, this story and the Upside Down.”
“The spinoff is going to delve into that and explain that, and you’re going to understand it,” Matt Duffer said of the briefcase rock. “But it’s a completely different mythology. So it’s not a deep exploration of the Mind Flayer or anything like that. It’s very fresh and very new, but yes, it will answer some of the loose threads that are remaining.”
The Duffer brothers are working on the spinoff as we speak, and described it as a “clean slate.”
“Completely new characters, new town, new world, new mythology,” Matt Duffer said, adding: “No common characters.”
Netflix actually has two announced Stranger Things spinoffs in development, the first of which is Stranger Things: Tales From ’85, a new animated series due out at some point this year. This is set in the same universe between Seasons 2 and 3, and follows the original characters as they “fight new monsters and unravel a paranormal mystery terrorizing their town.” The second spinoff, which the Duffer brothers are referring to above, is an unnamed live-action series. And if you’re really desperate for more, there’s a making-of documentary due out on Netflix on January 12.
Image credit: Netflix.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Southern California police are investigating a wave of similar burglaries involving trading card businesses in a bid to establish whether they are linked.
Thieves made off with thousands of dollars' worth of trading cards over the weekend, targeting a trading card store in Simi Valley, California, in the early hours of Sunday morning, January 4.
As reported by KTLA, the thieves targeted rare Pokémon and sports trading cards at Simi Sports Cards, making off with "almost every card" in just three minutes. You can see the robbery take place in the Instagram footage, below.
Owner Jake Miller said: “They took single cards from our show cases [after] busting them open. We have five display cases in here, and they were all full — almost every card was stolen. It’s several hundred cards, as well as some sealed boxes."
The store isn't certain of the exact amount taken, but Miller estimates it'll cost around $50,000 to put things right and upgrade the store's security systems.
"Card stores in greater Los Angeles and Ventura County are being hit RELENTLESSLY and we were once again victim this weekend," reads the Instagram post. "Sunday morning at 3:30am we were broken into by a group of 5 thieves who stole most of our singles inventory. Simi Valley was once known for law and order, what is happening?"
The Simi Valley Police Department said it was aware of similar burglaries involving trading card businesses that occurred over the weekend in surrounding communities. "SVPD Property Crimes Detectives are working closely with neighboring law enforcement agencies to determine whether these incidents may be connected," it said in a statement published online.
That's a reference to a man who reportedly purchased a rare Pokémon card "worth six figures" from a store in LA's Sawtelle neighborhood and, that same day, was tracked to his vehicle and robbed at gunpoint. It's unclear whether the two incidents are related, or indeed if either crime is connected to the same thieves who targeted a different store in Burbank just last month, stealing $100,000 in merchandise.
NEW: Burglars ransack card shop and steal $100,000 worth of rare Pokémon and sports cards
The owner believes the thieves knew exactly where the merchandise was and planned the job ahead of time
Anyone who may have information related to the burglary or who observed suspicious activity in the area is encouraged to contact the Simi Valley Police Department: 805-583-6950.
Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.
A day on from the official reveal of LEGO Smart Brick, the company has responded to concerns that its big announcement poses a risk to its core basis in physical play.
Speaking to IGN, LEGO exec Federico Begher, SVP of Product, New Business, said that the impending arrival of smart elements in LEGO sets was a huge moment for the company, and one it had been working towards for a long period. At the same time, however, Begher was keen to respond to some of the technology's less-enthused early reactions, which have questioned whether LEGO was risking its core principals as a physical toy company.
"It's a big part of the future," Begher told IGN. "[But] I mean, it's very important to be clear that this does not mean that we're leaving our core proposition behind, which is some of the questions and concerns I've heard, like, 'are you leaving what's been successful in the massive move into this?'"
A BBC News report on yesterday's Smart Brick announcement at the CES trade show in Las Vegas noted some "unease" among "play experts" at the unveiling of bricks and LEGO Minifigures with chips inside. Indeed, the article includes a quote from Josh Golin, executive director of children's wellbeing group Fairplay, who said he believed Smart Bricks could "undermine what was once great about Lego" and curtail the use of imagination during play.
"This is an addition, a complementary evolution," Begher continued, speaking to IGN. "We will still very much nurture and innovate and keep doing our core experience.
"Sometimes we compare it with the Minifigure," he added. "Back in the day, the Minifigure started small, it was in a few things, and then wherever there was roleplay, it made sense to have the Minifigure. And in that sense, we see that in a similar way where we say, wherever there's opportunity for this type of dimensional play, we will probably explore it. And that's kind of the thinking.
"It's not to say that it replaces anything. It's an added layer that's here to stay, that we believe in. It will be part of our System-in-Play, like the brick is, like the Minifigure is."
"It's an added layer that's here to stay."
LEGO says its range of Smart Play elements are designed to increase play potential, and unlock additional interactions with its bricks and Minifigures without the need for a screen. (A Parental Control app is available and will be used to update Smart Brick firmware as new sets arrive, though LEGO representatives were keen to make clear that play itself was entirely physical, and not a way to introduce any other form of digital interactivity.
"It's not what this is," Begher said. "We certainly see that [digital play] has its value and its role and we do have experiences that do that in gaming and so on. But it's not where this is taking us necessarily. It is screen-free and it's physical play. It's an acknowledgement that kids have always dreamed about this for their physical toys. And it's the moment where we are starting to be able to... the technologies exist and we realize we could be able to start to deliver that dream."
In hands-on demos, IGN was able to try out LEGO's upcoming Star Wars sets with Smart Play elements that will be used to launch the technology in March. These include an X-Wing set with a Smart Brick inside, which provides swooping engine noises as it detects the speed and direction of movement.
The Smart Brick itself is a sensor-packed 2x4 brick that is told to act as a certain thing by wirelessly connecting to Smart Tiles, tiny elements that essentially unlock a specific mode for the Brick to run. When told to be an X-Wing, the Smart Brick provides engine noises as it detects movement, illicits responses from a Smart Minifigure of Luke Skywalker or R2-D2 when seated in the cockpit, and can detect nearby weapons fire from a Smart Brick-infused TIE Fighter. The Smart Brick's ability to detect colors allows it to sense when other elements from the set are touched to it, such as a blue refuelling nozzle or green hammer, producing appropriate sounds.
Begher describes the development of Smart Play as iterative, with "pivoting" based on feedback from children and parents, but also learnings from previous LEGO projects such as its interactive Super Mario figures and Hidden Side range that featured extended play via an augmented reality smartphone app. From these, LEGO decided Smart Play needed to be fully physical and an integral part of LEGO's offering, "not something that's isolated and only exists in a corner of the portfolio."
"Something that we started to figure out with things like Super Mario," Begher continued, "[was] the fact that it shouldn't be too prescriptive, there needs to be play triggers. At the end of the day, kids need to play with it however they want and they want to goof around. We're not going to tell them, use the X-Wing this way or that way, it's your X-Wing.
"That was another learning — for instance, in Super Mario where some of the levels were very prescriptive. If you didn't make Super Mario do this, nothing would happen. And the fact that even if you don't want to use interactive technology, this has to be a great build and it has to have to be a great play experience. So it's a great Lego set, even if you take the Smart Brick and put it aside."
As for where Smart Bricks will develop in the future, Begher remaind tight-lipped, though suggested its current implementation in the company's first sets was just "the tip of iceberg", with the technology future proofed for more complex uses. "There's much more that this can do that will come eventually," Begher teased. "We've had to decide how big is the launch, and how big is the leap at launch? It needs to be a fantastic experience that's new and exciting, but it can be a leap so big that understanding, education becomes a hurdle, right? We worked on striking the right balance and the roadmap thinking of this."
Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
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