David Harbour barely in Stranger Things trailer after Lily Allen album

He's long been a fan-favourite in the hit Netflix series, and took a leading role in series four of Stranger Things as he returned as Police Chief Jim Hopper. 

But David Harbour was notably absent in many of the scenes of the final trailer released ahead of the sci-fi series' return to screen next month, which will conclude the show for good. 

David, 50, has played the loveable rogue police chief and the adoptive father of main character Eleven, played by Millie Bobby Brown, since the series' debut in 2016. 

And while fans of the Emmy Award winning series had hoped to see more of him in series five, he made just TWO appearances across the three-minute long teaser. 

The sneak peek at the action first sees David as Hopper walking through alternative universe the Upside Down alongside Eleven, holding a gun. 

While a second snapshot appears to feature the same scene, with both David and Millie, 21, in the same outfits, inside a suspicious looking laboratory. 

It marks a stark contrast to the show's fourth season, which dedicated a storyline to character Hopper, who had been imprisoned in Russia and was planning an escape.

Hopper, who has clocked up the same amount of screen time as main characters Mike and Nancy Wheeler across the four previous seasons, was reunited with on-screen daughter, Millie's Eleven, in emotional scenes at the end of the series. 

Winona Ryder, who plays Hopper's love interest Joyce Byers, also only makes a singular appearance in the final trailer alongside Finn Wolfhard's Mike Wheeler. 

The couple's pal Murray Bauman, played by Brett Gelman, also only features once, alongside Maya Hawke's Robin Buckley. 

And Karen Wheeler, played by Cara Buono, is only seen in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it flash, with her head turned away from the camera. 

Even fan-favourite character Steve Harrington, portrayed by actor and musician Joe Keery, is only seen twice during the trailer. 

However, David's absence from the trailer comes just days after his ex-wife Lily Allen released a tell-all album about their split, which was confirmed earlier this year.

The album, West End Girl, which has proven to be a major triumph for Lily, 40, was released just days before the final Stranger Things cast posters were posted to social media. 

Lily Allen's West End Girl tracklist

1. West End Girl 

2. Ruminating 

3. Sleepwalking 

4. Tennis

5. Madeline 

6. Relapse 

7. Pussy Palace 

8. 4chan Stan 

9. Nonmonogamummy by Lily Allen & Specialist Moss 

10. Just Enough 

11. Dallas Major 

12. Beg for Me 

13. Let You W/In 

14. Fruityloop

David's poster was released alongside Winona, 54, Brett, 49, and Cara, 54 over the weekend. 

Meanwhile, Lily's songs have been streamed more than eight million times worldwide on Spotify since it was released last Friday, while the album already sits at the top of the UK iTunes album chart. 

And it sent the internet into meltdown as online sleuths scrambled to piece together the unravelling of the duo's romance, and what had caused it. 

Much of the focus was drawn on song Madeline, which detailed David's alleged infidelity with a secret lover, who The Daily Mail exclusively revealed as costume designer Natalie Tippett.

A number of the show's fans noted that the 'brutal' break-up album had been released just days after the Stranger Things' press tour kicked off.

Earlier this month it was confirmed the show cast would be travelling to Lucca, London, Berlin, Paris, Istanbul, Tokyo, Sao Paulo, Toronto, New York, and more as part of the tour. 

The tour will include a world premiere of the series in Los Angeles on November 6.

Taking to X after Lily released the album, a number of show fans revealed they thought it was no coincidence the album had been released at the same time as the Stranger Things press tour began. 

One penned: 'Lily Allen releasing West End Girl around the time David Harbour is going to start press for Stranger Things S5...' as a second added: 'David is about to have the most miserable press tour.'

A third noted: 'David Harbour turning comments off on all his Instagram posts.'

An insider also agreed, with a source close to the pair revealing earlier this month: 'The album seems very deliberately timed to undermine David ahead of the Stranger Things finale.

‘It was hugely emotional for him and the cast to bring this story to an end, and it is something he is very proud of.’

The global hit culminates with a two-part final series, the first episodes of which are released on November 27.

The source continued: ‘But there is no way that he can now be part of the press tour while this is going on, it would be an utter embarrassment. 

'It must be devastating for David that he is unable to fully participate in the final chapter of the show that made him famous.’

Since the release of the album, David has been appearing to be hiding from public life, having turned off the comments on his social media pages. 

Lily and David announced their split in January after just over four years of marriage.

It is understood they separated in December, and that Lily spent Christmas alone with her children in Kenya, 3,000 miles from David.

Speaking on her Miss Me? podcast with her long-time friend, presenter Miquita Oliver, that month, she admitted that she was taking ‘time out’/

She said: ‘I’m finding it hard to be interested in anything. I’m really not in a good place. I know I’ve been talking about it for months, but I’ve been spiralling and spiralling. 

'It’s got out of control. I can’t concentrate on anything except the pain I’m going through. It’s really hard.’

A source claimed that the singer was ‘devastated’ and had reportedly checked into an £8,000-a-week trauma treatment centre after telling friends she was close to a nervous breakdown.

She also gave an interview to British Vogue this month in which she discussed how hard it was not to rely on ‘drugs and alcohol’ to get through the split.

Meanwhile Harbour, asked about the split by GQ magazine in April, declined to reveal much, saying it would encourage ‘a salacious s***-show of humiliation’.

The Mail on Sunday reported earlier this year that Lily had turned detective after suspecting David of cheating on her. 

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EXCLUSIVE
'I'm Madeline': We reveal mum who had affair with Lily Allen's husband

The singer's circle of London friends said she had believed since last autumn that her husband was interested in other women.

The couple, who had met on the celebrity dating app Raya, had disabled their profiles following a whirlwind romance, but Lily decided to re-join the app to check on her husband’s activity – and discovered he had a secret profile which had been active.

In it, he describes himself as ‘visiting New York from Atlanta’ and a ‘closet nerd that plays tough guys on your TV’. 

A source said at the time: ‘Lily was looking for women that were on Raya and cross-referencing them with women David follows on Instagram to try to figure out who he was seeing.’

The couple shared a townhouse in Brooklyn, New York, with Lily's children after the couple moved there in 2020. She had enrolled her daughters in local schools.

Harbour also bought a home 800 miles away in Atlanta to be closer to the Stranger Things filmset, where he was filming the fifth and final series last year.

Since the split, Lily has moved back to London and has bought an ex-council flat in a building near where she grew up.

She said: ‘I have wanted to live in this building since I was a baby, it’s been a dream of mine forever and finally a flat became available in here and I was in a position to buy it and I did.’

Stranger Things returns to Netflix on November 27.