David Harbour Had Panic Attacks During First Season of 'Stranger Things'

Hollywood star, David Harbour, known for his role as police chief Jim Hopper in "Stranger Things," recently revealed that he suffered panic attacks while filming the series's first season. The actor is among the extremely small faction of people in Hollywood to reach mainstream popularity at an older age.

Harbour was able to amass most of his popularity due to how popular "Stranger Things" became after its 2016 release. Besides the series, the actor has starred in films like "Hellboy," "Violent Night," "Brokeback Mountain," "The Equalizer" and many others.

During a recent interview, the actor revealed that while he was impressed with the script, he initially did not think the Netflix sci-fi would be popular. He also recalled suffering panic attacks while filming because he thought the series' failure would be "humiliating."

Read on to learn more.

While talking to Yahoo! Entertainment, Harbor looked back on his time filming "Stranger Things" and how he experienced panic attacks on set. He said that he found his character compelling and thought of the script as amazing; however, he was not convinced that the show would actually gain any kind of success.

Harbour explained that after being cast for the role, the crew, which he described as "really small," moved to Atlanta to shoot. They apparently had little money and had to work extra hard to make up for it, and as a result, he grew apprehensive about the series' outcome.

The actor recalled, "In the middle of this process, I had nights where I would just be in a panic attack thinking, 'This is terrible.' Like, 'This is a terrible show. I'm terrible in it. And it's just gonna be humiliating.'"

Harbour revealed that he felt even worse when he discovered that Netflix had allegedly not advertised the series even with its release date steadily approaching. "[Even when it was about to be] released, Netflix didn't seem to be advertising it," the actor said.

He continued, "A friend on another show told me there were no ads up around New York City. And I was like, 'Why are there no ads up?' And he's like, 'Netflix is just burying the show. They hate it.' And I was like, 'Oh my God, my big break on Netflix, and they hate it.'"

The "Brokeback Mountain" star said he initially thought the film would add to his growing list of failures. This was why, when "Stranger Things" grew to be the most-watched series on Netflix, "it was all the more satisfying." He revealed he never thought people would love the show as much as they do currently.

During the interview, the "Brokeback Mountain" actor admitted that he did not expect "Stranger Things" to get as popular as it did. Upon getting the script for "Stranger Things" and reading it, Harbour disclosed that he thought it was "fantastic" but was sure "no one will watch it."

He said, "So that was really what I thought: I think this is probably the best pilot script I'd ever read. And I certainly loved the character more than any other character I think I'd ever read."

Harbour said that upon reading about his role, he felt like Jim Hopper was the guy he had always wanted to play and the kind of person he admired. "But I really did think, 'I'm sure no one will be interested in this, but we'll make it.' It'll be a really niche small audience of people that are die-hard like fans."

When asked how he felt about his younger co-stars and their shot to fame, Harbour said he thought of it as "terrifying and thrilling" for them because he watched them grow up. He explained that while he was ecstatic that the world embraced them for their obvious talent, he was worried about the kind of pressure they faced.

"I have such a protective quality 'cause I know them as kids, and I know them as just little actors who were on set. And then to see the world just fall in love with them to the point where they just want to eat them up is terrifying," the "Hellboy" actor said.

Harbor continued, "So I worry for them. And also, I'm thrilled that they are embraced for their talent. But it's a scary thing to watch a young psyche have to deal with the kind of crap that, like, even as a 40-year-old man, is difficult to deal with. When I feel protective of them, it's just very tricky."