‘Wildly inaccurate’: Duffer brothers respond to reports of Millie Bobby Brown accusing David Harbour of bullying

Millie Bobby Brown and David Harbour became the center of a fast-moving narrative at the Stranger Things season 5 world premiere in Los Angeles on November 6. Millie Bobby Brown was the subject of a viral claim that she had accused Harbour of bullying before filming began.

On the carpet, executive producer Shawn Levy addressed the noise directly. As per The Hollywood Reporter post dated November 6, 2025, Shawn Levy stated,

“I’ve read a bunch of stories and they range from wildly inaccurate to… there’s so much noise around it. But the truth is that we view this crew and this cast as family, and so we treat each other with respect, and that’s always been bedrock.”

Ross Duffer stressed the decade-long, family-style culture on set without commenting on specifics.

The same night, Millie Bobby Brown and Harbour arrived together, laughed, and shared a hug, which was widely circulated by the studio’s social handles.

What the Duffers and Shawn Levy actually said

The comments were made at the Stranger Things season 5 world premiere at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles on November 6, 2025.

Millie Bobby Brown’s name was not invoked in detail by the creators, who framed their remarks around workplace culture.

As per The Hollywood Reporter post dated November 6, 2025, Ross Duffer stated,

“Obviously, you understand I can’t get into personal onset matters, but I will say we’ve been doing this for 10 years with this cast, and at this point they’re family and we deeply care about them. So, you know, nothing matters more than just having a set where everyone feels safe and happy.”

In the same line of questioning, and as noted above, Levy underlined that recent stories “range from wildly inaccurate,” then reiterated the cast-as-family standard.

The public optics aligned with those statements as Millie Bobby Brown and Harbour posed together on the carpet.

What the original reports alleged and what’s verified

Coverage on November 1 to 4 said Millie Bobby Brown filed a harassment and bullying complaint against Harbour before Stranger Things began shooting its final run, prompting an internal review that lasted months.

The reporting also said no s*xual misconduct was alleged and that a representative for Millie Bobby Brown was present during production.

Representatives for Netflix and both actors declined to comment on those stories.

Season 5 had already wrapped filming in December 2024, with the final season rolling out in three parts beginning November 26, 2025.

On premiere night, Millie Bobby Brown and Harbour appeared friendly, laughing and hugging on the carpet, which complicated the week’s narrative but did not resolve the underlying claim.

Millie Bobby Brown and David Harbour's working dynamic over the years

Across a decade on Stranger Things, Millie Bobby Brown and Harbour have publicly described an intense, familial collaboration that sometimes sparked friction.

As per the People report dated July 30, 2021, David Harbour stated on The Dan Patrick Show,

“I have a real protective feeling for her. I have a real, like, worry… I worry about her and the fame and all that she has to struggle with. And I’ve just always felt this kind of deep fatherly affection for her.”

Earlier, at a 2018 cast conversation, Millie Bobby Brown characterized the ensemble’s closeness in blunt terms. As per the People report dated March 26, 2018, she said,

“We are actually siblings — we argue all the time.”

Those remarks help frame why Millie Bobby Brown and Harbour’s on-screen father-daughter bond has often mirrored real-life dynamics, even as emotions ran high during long productions.

Recent premiere-night images of Millie Bobby Brown with Harbour sit alongside that history and the current allegation timeline without offering a definitive resolution.

Stay tuned for more updates.