Owens, the new head of Hawkins Lab, reluctantly informed him that the interdimensional gate beneath the facility was actively growing in size, and in turn corrupting the surrounding environment. After local crops began to rot in October 1984, Hopper discovered that mysterious tunnels beneath Hawkins were the source of the decay.

He decided to take her in, providing a home for her in his cabin, and did everything in his power to hide her from the authorities.

Later that year, Hopper discovered that Eleven, presumed to be deceased, was actually alive, living by herself in the woods. Eventually, Hopper and Joyce were permitted to travel through the gate and search for Will, finding him strung up in the alternate version of the public library he was unconscious, but alive. During their investigations, Hopper and Joyce met Eleven, the escaped child test subject who unwittingly opened the gate using special psychokinetic abilities. He began to unravel a conspiracy involving the nearby Hawkins National Laboratory, discovering the lab had conducted experiments that accidentally opened a gate to an alternate dimension. After an old friend, Joyce Byers, reported that her son, Will, had mysteriously disappeared, Hopper's life became infinitely more complicated. Hopper was Chief of Police in the small, sleepy town of Hawkins, Indiana, where he used to live out a carefree existence, though forever haunted by his troubled past. James Hopper Jr, also known as Jim Hopper, is a main character in Stranger Things.

Jim hoppa was skinned alive