David Harbour is trading the supernatural horrors of Hawkins, Indiana, for the suburban darkness of St. Louis. As the actor prepares for the March 1 debut of his new HBO limited series DTF St. Louis, he is opening up about the massive difference between playing Chief Jim Hopper and his latest role, Floyd. While both characters are middle-aged men dealing with personal demons, Harbour explains that Floyd exists in a world far removed from Demogorgons and Soviet conspiracies.
The seven-episode dark comedy, which premieres this Sunday, March 1, at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and will be available to stream on HBO Max, follows a love triangle between three middle-aged adults that takes a deadly turn. Harbour stars as Floyd, an earnest ASL interpreter, alongside Jason Bateman as weatherman Clark Forrest and Linda Cardellini as Carol, Floyd’s wife. The show comes from creator Steven Conrad, known for Patriot and Ultra City Smiths, and has been in development for four years with Harbour closely involved in shaping the project .
From Fighting Vecna to Battling Middle Age
At the recent Los Angeles premiere held February 24 at the DGA Theatre, Harbour spoke about what drew him to this project after spending years portraying the rugged Hawkins police chief . The actor joked that his new role actually pits him against a more terrifying enemy than anything he faced in the Upside Down.
“In my career of battling a lot of monsters, I have battled Vecna, and I’ve battled Thanos-level threats,” Harbour told Entertainment Tonight on the red carpet. “Now, I’m battling the worst of all, which kids will most likely run into—middle age. Which is a brutal monster that lives in the dark” .
This shift from physical, external threats to internal, emotional struggles marks a significant change for the actor. Unlike Hopper, who spent Stranger Things fighting Demogorgons, Russian soldiers, and the Mind Flayer, Floyd’s battles happen quietly in suburban St. Louis. The character is dealing with an unsatisfying marriage, questions about his own purpose, and ultimately, his own mortality.
Floyd vs. Hopper: The Key Differences Harbour Explains
Harbour recently shared his thoughts on how Floyd differs from the character that made him a household name. He described moving from playing a “masculine figure” to someone with more “vulnerability” as a “refreshing” change .
Jim Hopper is the quintessential action hero archetype—a former police chief with a tough exterior, a troubled past, and a willingness to throw himself into danger to protect those he loves. He carries the weight of loss and responsibility on his shoulders but expresses it through gruffness and physical confrontation. Hopper fights monsters, storms government facilities, and survives explosions.
Floyd exists in a completely different reality. He is an ASL interpreter, a job that requires patience, observation, and the ability to serve others without being the center of attention. His struggles are not supernatural but deeply human. He is a man trapped in a life that no longer feels fulfilling, grappling with middle-age malaise and a marriage that has lost its spark.
The show’s premise sees Floyd’s friend Clark introduce him to a dating app called DTF St. Louis—which stands for “Down to F—” for those unfamiliar—in an attempt to spice up his life . This decision sets off a chain of events that leads to infidelity, betrayal, and ultimately, Floyd’s death. The series opens with Harbour’s character already dead, and the story unfolds through a non-linear timeline that explores how the three main characters got to that point .
More Than Just a Raunchy Comedy
While the title and premise might suggest a purely provocative show, Harbour and the cast are quick to point out that DTF St. Louis has a much deeper meaning. The actor explained that beneath the surface-level titillation, the series explores universal human needs.
“The title is very titillating in a certain way,” Harbour admitted. “But I think it’s deeper than just DTF-ing. It’s about connection, vulnerabilities, meaning, potency in life, and friendship. It’s also really about battling middle age” .
This sentiment was echoed by Harbour at the premiere, where he told Reuters that the show isn’t just about dating apps or messy affairs. “Underneath it, there’s a deeply human sort of need for connection and friendship,” he said, emphasizing the surprisingly heartfelt core of the dark comedy .
Linda Cardellini, who plays Carol, added that the show thrives on characters who aren’t what they appear to be on the surface. “I think it draws you in. I don’t think anybody is what they seem on the surface,” Cardellini said. “There’s so much more to everybody” .
The non-linear storytelling, according to Cardellini, adds to the mystery. “You don’t know how the character died. That’s what’s fascinating—how Steve Conrad has drawn these characters and put them in a timeline that is not very linear,” she explained. “It’s an exploration of people looking for connection” .
The Character Who Isn’t What He Seems
Harbour described Floyd as someone who, on the surface, appears to be a simple, good-hearted man. He is an ASL interpreter, a profession that requires precision, empathy, and the ability to fade into the background while facilitating communication for others. But as the series progresses, audiences will see that Floyd, like everyone else in the show, has layers.
Conrad, speaking to Vanity Fair, explained the show’s philosophy: “No one’s normal. It just looks that way from across the street” . This idea sits at the core of Floyd’s character. He may seem like a regular, somewhat boring Midwesterner, but inside he harbors the same desires, frustrations, and secrets as everyone else.
The creator also spoke about the universal theme of making mistakes that can’t be fully undone. “[There’s] a set of themes I’ve liked since I was a young person learning how to write: You watch somebody you like make a mistake, and you watch them try to make up for it,” Conrad said. “You cheer for them to be able to do that. But like most of the consequential mistakes in our life, there really is no complete way to make it all better again” .
Four Years in the Making
Harbour revealed that his involvement with DTF St. Louis goes far beyond just showing up to act. He has been working on the show with Conrad for four years, helping to shape the project according to his creative vision.
“I’ve been developing and sort of honing by taste of what I want to see on TV,” Harbour explained. “It couldn’t be more perfect” .
The actor, known for being selective about his roles, said that the project hit all the right notes for him personally. “I have a very narrow window of what I like to watch and what I think is good,” he admitted. “It’s very tough to get me to laugh or to get me emotionally invested. It really needs to be like no BS and really pure. I felt like this has been that way for me the whole way” .
Harbour believes audiences will have a unique response to the show. He predicted that viewers will feel “confused” yet “overjoyed,” describing DTF St. Louis as “an enjoyable piece to watch” .
The Supporting Cast and Their Roles
Beyond the central trio, DTF St. Louis boasts an impressive ensemble. Richard Jenkins and Joy Sunday star as Homer and Jodie Plumb, an odd-couple detective team tasked with solving Floyd’s murder. Jenkins, an Oscar nominee, brings gravitas to the role, while Sunday, known for Wednesday, adds a sharp edge as the special crimes officer who suspects there’s more to Floyd’s death than meets the eye .
Peter Sarsgaard, Arlan Ruf, and Chris Perfetti appear in undisclosed roles, rounding out a cast that Conrad described as “limitless in terms of the emotions that they can conceive and then share” . The show also features Richard Jenkins as one half of the detective duo .
A Different Kind of Story for Harbour
For audiences used to seeing Harbour as the hero who runs into burning buildings and fights interdimensional monsters, Floyd represents a departure. This character doesn’t have a gun or a badge. He doesn’t deliver rousing speeches or save the day. Instead, Floyd is an ordinary man caught in an extraordinary situation of his own making.
Harbour’s career has included a mix of blockbuster action and intimate drama. He has played Red Guardian in the Black Widow movie and will reprise the role in Avengers: Doomsday . He also has Violent Night 2 scheduled for release on December 4, 2026 . But with DTF St. Louis, he returns to the kind of character-driven storytelling that allows him to explore vulnerability and human weakness.
The actor recently wrapped filming on the final season of Stranger Things two months ago, closing a chapter that defined much of the past decade . Now, with this new HBO series, he is showing audiences a different side of his abilities.
When and Where to Watch DTF St. Louis
DTF St. Louis premieres on Sunday, March 1, 2026, at 9 p.m. ET on HBO . The seven-episode limited series will air weekly on Sundays, with the finale scheduled for April 12, 2026, at 8 p.m. ET due to the premiere of Euphoria following at 9 p.m. .
For those who prefer streaming, each episode will be available on HBO Max (soon to be rebranded as Max) after its television debut. Viewers in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and India can access the series through the HBO Max platform, provided they have a subscription. Local cable and satellite providers in these regions that carry HBO will also air the episodes as they premiere.
The show is a co-production between MGM Television, Escape Artists, Bravo Axolotl, Elephant Pictures, Aggregate Films, and HBO, with executive producers including Conrad, Bateman, Harbour, Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, Steve Tisch, and others .
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What Audiences Can Expect
Based on the trailer released in January, viewers can expect a wild ride. The preview opens with Harbour’s dead body and flashes back through the events that led to that moment . It includes moments of dark humor, including Bateman’s character describing an explicit fantasy to Cardellini’s Carol, and plenty of twists as the murder mystery unfolds.
The show explores themes of infidelity, kink, loneliness, and the search for meaning in middle age. Conrad told Vanity Fair that the series delves into “what is the right way to acknowledge that you want more” from life and relationships, and “what will you lose if that were the case” .
For Harbour, this role offers something different from the Stranger Things fame that made him a star. It allows him to play a man who isn’t a hero, who makes mistakes, and who ultimately pays the ultimate price for them. As audiences prepare to say goodbye to Jim Hopper, they can welcome Floyd—a character who proves that sometimes the most terrifying monsters aren’t the ones from another dimension, but the ones we carry inside ourselves.
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