David Harbour shaved off his beard and Stranger Things fans are devastated

26 September 2019, 16:20

Katie Louise Smith

By Katie Louise Smith

Harbour just wrapped filming on Marvel's Black Widow and he finally said goodbye to all that facial hair – much to the disappointment of Stranger Things fans.

Friends, I bring you sad news. For the past 9 or so months, you'll know that Stranger Things star David Harbour has been sporting a very long, very glorious beard. He's been growing out his facial hair since Stranger Things 3 wrapped at the end of 2018.

Following the devastating events of season 3's ending, fans have been convinced that Jim Hopper is still alive and is either the American prisoner in Russia or he's somehow in the Upside Down. The theories have been based around on his long beard, thanks to this picture that Millie Bobby Brown posted back in August.

READ MORE: Stranger Things '3 inches' theory could prove Jim Hopper is actually in the Upside Down

But, while many fans thought the beard was for Hopper in Stranger Things 4, he was actually growing it out for his role in Marvel's Black Widow. Black Widow has now officially wrapped filming and David has officially said goodbye to his character, the Red Guardian/Alexi (yep, Alexei, we know...) As part of his goodbye, he's got rid of his ENTIRE beard.

Taking to Instagram, David wrote: "Goodbye long, scraggly, surprisingly soft, Walt Whitman beard. Adieu beige hotel room. Goodnight sweet strange mannequin i never knew what to do with in the corner of the room. Farewell Alexi, you big bold bright burly hope of russia, you complicated tortured soul, you guardian of the red."

Of course, fans are now absolutely losing it because everyone apparently really really really thought the facial growth was for Stranger Things 4.

His comments are full of confused fans shouting "THE BEARD IS GONE WHAT ABOUT THE AMERICAN IN KAMCHATKA," "AAAH I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO THINK BUT I KNOW YOU’RE ALIVE," and "How are you going to be a prisoner in season 4 now?"

The answer to that last question? Thankfully, fake hair exists... as demonstrated in the image below.

View this post on Instagram

Spot the fake.

A post shared by David Harbour (@dkharbour) on

Stranger Things 4 is reportedly scheduled to start filming in October 2019, and it would have been perfect timing for his post-Black Widow beard to coincide with dishevelled prisoner/Upside Down Hopper. (Honestly, a lot of us would've paid good money to see Joyce help him shave it off after rescuing him but that dream is now DEAD, oK????)

David has also been teasing some pretty suspicious new hints about Hopper's fate on Instagram. After completing his little profile picture stunt with Murray's phone number, he's now posting pictures of sunflowers and rainbows (two of the things that Eleven's mum was repeating back in season 2) and hinting at inverted objects and things that are... upside down.