After years of speculation, Noah Schnapp has finally revealed the sexuality of his Stranger Things character, Will Byers.
Is Will from Stranger Things gay?
In a recent interview with Variety, Schnapp confirmed that Will is gay and is in love with his best friend, Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard).
“Obviously, it was hinted at in season 1: It was always kind of there, but you never really knew, [because viewers were like] ‘is it just him growing up slower than his friends?’” Schnapp said of his character’s queerness. “Now that he’s gotten older, they made it a very real, obvious thing. Now it’s 100% clear that he is gay and he does love Mike. But before, it was a slow arc. I think it is done so beautifully, because it’s so easy to make a character just like all of a sudden be gay.”
Schnapp admitted to the news outlet that he tried to avoid spoiling the reveal in previous interviews because he wanted to maintain the power of Will’s nuanced journey through the end of season 4.
While Will’s sexuality has been a topic of discussion with fans since the series launched in 2016, it was only in season 3 that his sexuality became a huge part of his character arc. “It’s not my fault you don’t like girls,” Mike memorably yelled at Will in season 3, episode 3 during a time when Will wanted to play a game of Dungeons & Dragons instead of talking about romance.
“In season 2, they were best friends and they were so close, and then obviously Mike has all his eyes on Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown). Will is dealing with a little bit of jealousy there,” Schnapp said of his character. “He just wants his best friend back and wants it to be like what it was in season 1, when they were playing D&D in his basement.”
Good thing Will is never really alone, thanks to his older brother, Jonathan Byers (Charlie Heaton), who makes it clear in an emotional scene in season 4 that he’s always there for him no matter what his sexuality is.
How do fans think of Will’s character arc?
Schnapp said that a lot of Stranger Things fans find Will relatable even before his sexuality became a major topic with viewers. “All his friends, they all have girlfriends and they all fit into their different clubs. Will has never really found anywhere to fit in,” the actor explained. “I think that’s why so many people come up to me and tell me that they love Will and they resonate with him so much because it’s such a real character.”
The 17-year-old actor continued: “People have come up to me — I was just in Paris and this, like, 40-year-old man came up to me and he was like, ‘Wow, this Will character made me feel so good. And I related to it so much. That is exactly who I was when I was a kid.’ That just made me so happy to hear. They are writing this real character and this real journey and real struggle and they’re doing it so well.
What to expect from Will in Stranger Things season 5?
Without giving away spoilers, Schnapp told Variety that Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer will focus more on Will’s connection to the Upside Down as well as his sexuality in the fifth and final season of the series.
“I called them a few weeks ago and I was like, ‘What’s your plan with Will? Like, with his sexuality, but also with the Upside Down and all of that?’” the actor shared. “They have a lot to get to. They’re still working it out, but they have their end goal. There’s [sic] so many different things they have to address. Obviously, we hope for a coming-out scene, and I also want to see them address this connection to the Mind Flayer and how that fits into the world. And I’ve always been wondering, why was Will the first victim and the first one captured? I just want to see it all tie in and all work out. So I’m excited to see what happens.”
Stranger Things season 5 release date
Netflix has yet to set a release date for Stranger Things season 5, but the Duffer Brothers previously shared that the wait for the final season would be much shorter this time around, as they have already outlined the show’s last batch of episodes.
“We’re going to take a little vacation in July,” Ross Duffer said in an interview with Collider. “And then we’re going to come back. I know that the writer’s room is going to start in that first week of August.”
Matt Duffer confirmed to TVLine in June that the next season is “pretty well mapped out” but they are not “ready to say yet a start date for shooting.”
The Stranger Things cast also includes Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Natalia Dyer, Sadie Sink, Joe Keery, Maya Hawke, Pria Ferguson, and Brett Gelman, among many others.