Ross Duffer, who created Netflix’s hugely popular “Stranger Things” series with his brother Matt, doesn’t post on Instagram all that often … which is why it was especially meaningful that he dedicated a recent post to his high school drama teacher, Hope Hynes Love.
But the Duffers went further than simply singing Love’s praises on Instagram: They gave her a recurring role in “Stranger Things” Season 5 as Miss Harris, who just happens to be a school teacher.
“I was delighted to be asked!” Love tells TODAY.com in a video interview from her classroom.
Love has kept in touch with the Duffer brothers since she met them as freshmen in high school. She says she always sent them a note after each “Stranger Things” season ended to tell them all the things that “delighted” her.
But after Season 4 aired in 2022, Love got a very interesting message back. The Duffers said they were hoping she might have played a small role that season but they ended up cutting the part.
“I showed it to my husband. I said, ‘How lovely are these boys to lie to me like this and make me feel good, right?'” Love recalls, laughing.
But in December 2024, Love received a “missive” from the brothers, doubling down on their “lie.”
“They’re like, ‘Hey, remember that thing we talked about? We think we can do it now. Are you available? Could you find the time? It’ll probably be summer. We hope you could make it work,'” Love says. “And I was like, ‘Make it work? I think I’ll make it work!'”
From Durham to Hawkins
Love, who is in her 30th year of teaching, first met Matt and Ross Duffer when they were freshmen at C.E. Jordan High School in Durham, North Carolina.
“They weren’t musical kids,” Love, who now teaches at a high school in Chapel Hill, says. “But even then, they considered themselves artists … who were working on a craft that would serve them now and beyond.”
Though they may not have been able to sing and dance well enough to be cast as designated characters in the school’s production of “Once Upon a Mattress,” Love created roles for them as “mimes and sidekicks to the Troubadour” in the show.
“The reason they were cast often is because they were artists I wanted to spend time with and work with,” she says. “They spent a lot of time filming a lot of the projects that we were completing, and that was a way for them to stay involved and work on the craft that really interests them.”
After growing up in and around Durham’s theater scene, the Duffer brothers — whether intentionally or not — cast a number of young Broadway actors in their breakout hit show.
Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin) was only 8 when he appeared in “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.” Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas) had already portrayed Young Simba in “The Lion King” for two years. And Sadie Sink (Max) played multiple roles in the 2012 revival of “Annie.”
In many ways, it seems that through “Stranger Things,” the Duffers really celebrate “theater kids,” Dungeons and Dragons players and anyone who may stand out as different.
But Love thinks theater kids aren’t just having a moment. Instead, she says, “I think we’ve always had a moment inside of our own tribe. I think everybody else is catching on to how cool we are. It’s been a secret club, and maybe now the secret’s out.”
High school and beyond
In the post dedicated to Love, Ross Duffer said Love is the reason he and his brother decided to “chase our dreams.”
“High school was rough for me and my brother,” he said. “But Hope saw something in us we didn’t see in ourselves — and she helped give us the confidence to not only survive those four years, but to move to L.A. and chase our dreams.”
He added, “Shoutout to all the teachers out there making a difference. And please … let’s prioritize the arts in schools.”
Love couldn’t agree more.
“Having quality arts education and access to quality teachers — period — is such a formative part of our democracy,” she says. “Everybody can remember a teacher who either ushered them along a path that they were already on, or felt like a gatekeeper and stomped them down a path they were curious about. And I think one of the fundamental bedrocks of a healthy democratic society is everybody has access.”
Love’s current and former students went on to sing her praises in the comment section of Ross Duffer’s Instagram post:
- “Hope is still a teacher, and I take her class currently … She is one of the sweetest teachers I have ever met.”
- “She is such a ray of light in the community and I know she is still guiding and loving all of her students no matter what.”
- “Impossible to imagine high school without Hope. She made me real. Gave me a place to be totally myself AND get belonging.”
Love says hearing from former students has been “the loveliest thing about this whole surreal afterglow.” She adds, “It’s been a lovely residual gift. It’s awesome in the true use of that word.”
She says she will likely “graduate” from her three decade teaching career when her sophomore son graduates from high school. She’s not exactly sure what comes next.
She is also not sure what will happen for her “Stranger Things” character, Miss Harris. Or if she does know, she’s not telling.
“You have to wait till you turn the page! That’s the fun of it,” she teases. “I don’t know. But even if I did know, I would pretend like I don’t know. Because that’s the way stories work.”
This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY:
