In the wake of his very public split from Lily Allen, the Stranger Things actor David Harbour was grateful for the friendship he formed with his co-star Jason Bateman on the set of their new HBO TV series, DTF St Louis.
“Right from the early discussions with Jason, I felt a camaraderie,” he says. “He's such a smart guy, and so silly on one hand but earnestly cares about what he does on the other. I just felt a kind of fun with him.”
Living in suburbia and experiencing middle-aged malaise, friends Floyd and Clark – played by David and Jason respectively – plot to spice up their sex lives outside their marriages. But in a way, the real love is between the two men.
© © 2026 Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc“It's hard as a 50-year-old heterosexual male to make new friends,” David says. “I've found it hard. But I started to let my guard down.”
The Black Widow star began dating pop star Lily in 2019 and the couple married a year later, in a ceremony conducted by an Elvis Presley impersonator in Las Vegas. They moved into a home in Brooklyn, New York, with the British singer’s two daughters from her previous marriage to the builder Sam Cooper.
Although the couple seemed madly in love, the first inklings of trouble in paradise came in December 2024, with news of the couple’s separation emerging two months later. David, 51, threw himself into work, while Lily, 41, explored the demise of their relationship in her hit album West End Girl, accusing him of infidelity.
© Getty ImagesDavid did not comment on Lily’s lyrics last year as he promoted the final season of Stranger Things, in which his portrayal of the police chief Jim Hopper made him a household name.
His busy schedule includes reprising the role of Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian in the forthcoming Marvel movie Avengers: Doomsday, and he will also return as Santa Claus in this year’s Christmas film Violent Night 2.
Filming DTF St Louis with Jason and Linda Cardellini – who plays his unfaithful wife – was deeply rewarding, giving him the chance to forge a new friendship with Jason, who previously starred in Ozark.
“There was something on set where even that process of making a new friend in him, or showing up thinking: ‘I wonder what he thinks of me in the scene today?’, I would let those colours play on me as we played the scene,” David says.
© © 2026 Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc“It was a joy to do. The chemistry was organic and I'm pleased to see that it translates on screen so well.”
Jason, 57, returns the compliment. “I have a lot of similar feelings about David and about how effortless the chemistry was,” he says. “It's simply people skills.
“In any occupation, any work environment, it’s a choice to have a connection with the people you're working with, so when you've got people who aren't jerks, it's not tough.”
Despite his fame, David, who was born in New York, often comes across as thoughtful and self-deprecating, unafraid to poke fun at himself or to admit when he’s figuring things out as he goes. His mix of intensity, honesty and humour make him just as compelling off-screen as he is on.
Having been sober since he was 24, he is refreshingly open about the issues that matter to him, talking candidly about his struggles with bipolar disorder and using his platform to help reduce stigma around mental health.
© Getty ImagesUltimately, he hopes that DTF St Louis will be as bingeable as Stranger Things. “I want to make great television – just truly enjoyable, pleasurable television,” he says.
“There's something about sitting with your laptop in your bed – that’s how I do it – with a group of characters for eight hours and bingeing the hell out of it. That can be a truly pleasurable experience.”
DTF St Louis is streaming now on Sky Atlantic and Now TV.
