Stranger Things MVP Jim Hopper is many things — Police chief, chain-smoker, Jim Croce enthusiast, goofy dancer, dad/daddy, one half of TV's hottest ship, our unabashed fave — but however you choose to define him, the root of our obsession can be traced back to the man who plays him, David Harbour, who is, if anything, even more entertaining than his iconic character.

Harbour readily admits, "I’m an old person, so I don’t really know what a meme is," but ever since Stranger Things 2 debuted, he's consistently been winning the internet (and our hearts) through his playful fan interactions, self-deprecating Instagram throwbacks and willingness to provide us with Joyce/Hopper fanfiction.

Harbour took time out from filming Neil Marshall's Hellboy reboot in Bulgaria to hop (see what we did there?) on the phone with us and discuss his newfound internet glory, Hopper and Eleven's powerful bond, and his dream scenario for a Hopper/Steve Harrington team-up in Season 3.

Hopper’s connection with Eleven was really the emotional core of Season 2 — what are you hoping to see in their relationship in Season 3, as an audience member?

I think there’s a couple fun ways to go about it. Certainly one of the great things about the potential now, humor and drama-wise, is that Hopper is now the dad of a girl who’s a teenager, so she’s going to be going through all these changes that it’s gonna be very difficult for him to guide her through. And also, she’s going to be wanting, probably, to go on dates with that horrible Mike Wheeler boy. [Laughs.] I think Hopper might have to sit down and have some conversations about curfews and “your intentions with my daughter” and shit like that.

Watch out, Mike. Image: netflix

So I feel like there’s a lot of ripe potential for comedy in that way and also … To me, the most interesting thing about Hopper, which we see but we’ve only touched on, is this idea that he’s a man of justice and he’s a cop and he wants to close the gate — he’ll do anything for justice. So the interesting thing about what Eleven brings is this idea that maybe there are things beyond justice, in terms of being a father; maybe having happiness, maybe having contentment and having a life that isn’t so job-oriented. I think might be nice, in terms of that struggle, to see him be this man who has to take action, who has to jump in tunnels and has to go close gates even with his daughter or whatever, and then to see if we can just read books and if there are ways we can just hang out and be a family. The tension between those two men in him will be interesting as it plays out in further seasons.

How do you think Hopper would feel about Eleven’s punk rock adventure in episode 7, if he knew all the details? Do you think she’d tell him everything?

[Laughs.] I think Hopper would kill her. Hopper would absolutely kill her. “No, I don’t want you riding around in vans with people with guns and mohawks. I mean, what the hell are you doing, you stupid, stupid child?” I think he’s very glad that he didn’t know about that.

Image: netflix

Who knows, that could be something in further seasons where those characters reemerge in some way. They don’t really get into it; she doesn’t really tell him all the details of what happened, and I think he’s fine to not get into it as well because he’s already got so many damn control issues that if he knew something like that was happening, I don’t know that his heart could take it. He’d probably have a stroke immediately.

The scene where Mike confronts Hopper over hiding Eleven is so powerful — how was that to film with Finn?

It’s so interesting, because it’s one of those things where I genuinely had no idea that that would be as powerful a scene as people thought it was. I remember filming it, we literally did it in half an hour or something – it was so quick and easy and Finn is just so talented that I didn’t really have to do that much. He’s so easy to play off of, and I hate when these kids feel good about themselves, so I would never tell him this in person, but I’ll tell it to you – I’m so impressed with that kid…

I remember we shot it really quickly and the Duffers were really impressed with it but I was like, “I don’t know if we got it, guys,” and they were like “no, no, it’s good,” and then the fact that everyone responded to it so well was a complete surprise to me.

Judging by social media, you and Joe Keery have an awesome offscreen relationship, but Steve and Hopper don’t get to share much screen time. If they could have a storyline together next season, what would you want to see?

Make love, not war, kids❤️ #chiefhopper #steveharrington #strangerthings2 #bromance #sorrypatton #joeanddavid4eva A post shared by David Harbour (@dkharbour) on Jul 24, 2017 at 2:29pm PDT

There’s a certain aspect of Steve Harrington that I love so much; he’s so damn eager to help out and there’s even a little moment where we’re at the thing and he says “the Germans” and Dustin’s like, “the Nazis?” and he’s like, “oh yeah, the Nazis, yeah.” Like, I think Steve is kinda dumb? I love the fact that he’s so great but kinda dumb, and I would love to play scenes with him where Hopper is just completely ripping him apart and then he walks away and Steve just calls him a dipshit under his breath or something.

I would love to play more stuff with Joe, we’ll have to see. There’s just so many great characters on this show, it’s hard to figure out a way to put Steve and Hopper together, but I’m sure the Duffers will figure it out, because I do love Joe, I love working with him.

We have kind of a social media battle going — there’s a Pomeranian dog on our set that is one of the makeup girls’ dogs, and I fell madly in love with this dog and put a picture on Instagram, and then Joe would text me pictures of him and the dog in the makeup trailer, and I would get so jealous and mad and rageful. So I do feel like there’s some kind of love triangle to be mined there with the two of us and the Pomeranian, but that might just be off set, I don’t know if we would put that in the show.

Bittersweet season 2 spoiler. Joyce has been recast for season2. 😏😜 A post shared by David Harbour (@dkharbour) on Mar 7, 2017 at 11:50am PST

🎞#momentslikethese A post shared by Joe Keery (@uncle_jezzy) on May 10, 2017 at 8:17pm PDT

Image: finn wolfhard/snapchat

Hopper has been in serious peril in both seasons; was there ever any danger of him being killed off, as far as you know, or were you always safe?

Look, Hopper is very killable ... I was talking to the Duffers about — in episode 9 when we’re in the car and I’m talking to Millie and telling her how I feel like I’m just a black hole, and we go into the lab — one of the things they were saying is, “I think the audience is gonna feel like Hopper’s gonna die there,” because we already have the red herring of the tunnels where we think he’s gonna die. But also, I think the audience did feel like Hopper’s gonna die.

I will be the first to tell you, Hopper is not safe, Hopper is very, very killable, and he doesn’t always make the best decisions, like going into tunnels without backup, things like that. The fundamental aspect of Hopper’s personality is that he’s not about self-preservation, he’s about justice. He’s not even about personal happiness, he’s about justice. So he’s willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good and so that is something that… he is definitely killable. I don’t want him to get killed, but that’s all up to the Duffer brothers, you know? [Laughs.]

It seems like there's a really collaborative process with the Duffers during production, and that they’re open to incorporating ideas from the cast. Was there anything specific that you wanted to bring to Hopper in Season 2 that you discussed with them?

Oh yeah, a lot of stuff. There’s a lot of stuff around Hopper’s very complicated relationship with Joyce that we discussed, and certainly his relationship with Eleven, and even little things like they let me choose the song with the record, the Jim Croce song — which I thought was so Hopper-specific, I just know he would love Jim Croce — so they let me choose things like that. Even that scene in the car, there had been a version of it that I worked with them on rewriting, sort of incorporating a little more of this mystery stuff. And they really allow me to have a tremendous amount of impact on how I see him as well. They very much trust me with the character and so it’s the greatest cinematic collaboration I’ve ever had; we’re very much on the same page and I have a lot of input.

You are the undisputed MVP of social media this season — do you have a favorite meme that you’ve seen from Season 2?

[Laughs.] I don’t even know what memes are, I’m like an old person, so I don’t really know what a meme is. Apparently I am one now with the Dancing Hopper thing and I think that was my favorite thing. When that Twitter account came out, @HopperDancingTo, and they put me to all these different songs, I thought that’s pretty much one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. I watched that for a couple hours straight, him dancing to George Michael and all these stupid songs. That was my favorite, but I still am trying to understand what a meme is.

What would be your go-to song for Hopper to dance to?

Oh jeez, I forget which one it is now, but there was one that had me like howling, it was some stupid ‘80s song, it’s gonna be something like Wham or Toto or something stupid. I think the stupider the better. I’m not so into the rap ones, but the ones that are just plain old stupid ‘80s songs, I think those fit quite perfectly.

Jim Hopper dancing to Africa - Toto #StrangerThings pic.twitter.com/DrfQGS1f4t — Hopper Dancing To (@hopperdancingto) October 29, 2017

The debate whether Hopper is a dad or daddy rages on - which side of this great cultural divide do you land on?

[Laughs.] Oh my god, I don’t know if you saw that I posted a poll on Twitter there for about five seconds [Editor's note: We sure did], then somebody Tweeted me like, “David, children go on this website,” I was like “oh, I gotta take this down, too many kids like our show.”

Look, at the end of the day, my biggest fear in life is that I’m gonna wind up being an actor who plays the dad on a TV show like Full House or Small Wonder or something — I’m like the desexualized dad in the show Alf. No, that’s not what I want to play in my life. I’m a man, I’m not gonna wear dad jeans or whatever you call them… so in that way, I’d have to go with daddy. [Laughs.]

How deep do you venture down the fandom rabbit hole — are you seeking out fan art or fan fiction at this point, or just letting things come to you?

I totally let stuff come to me. Occasionally I will search “Hopper” on Twitter just to see what people… because I love when they livetweet as they’re watching the show and they’ll be like, “Hopper what the fuck are you doing, man? Hopper, I hate you." And then, "Oh, Hopper I love you.” So I do like that. But I do let stuff come to me. I will say that I love the inventiveness and the hilarity, especially the drawings – a lot of people have drawn pictures of me and Eleven dancing and doing weird dad stuff like me teaching her to ride a bike.

And then the other stuff that I will say that I love – everybody already knows this, but I have a big soft spot for the “Jopper” thing, so whenever there’s pictures of Hopper and Joyce kissing or Hopper and Joyce in high school, I find that stuff hilarious and sweet so I do love the fan art. Whenever people send it to me, if I can catch it, I do look at it, but I don’t actively seek it out, people have to @ me or send it to me for me to check it out.

Stranger Things 2 is now streaming on Netflix, and David Harbour is still winning the internet on Twitter and Instagram.