After the show strongly suggests but never quite states it, actor Noah Schnapp has finally confirmed that his “Stranger Things” character Will Byers is gay and loves his best friend Mike.
After being the Mind Flayer’s victim at the center of the first and some of the second season, Schnapp’s Will character has been left floundering a little without much to do beyond introversion and alienation from his peers.
The recent second volume of the fourth season finally addressed the elephant in the room that many involved have skirted around. Whilst never explicitly spelling out that Will is gay, it is heavily implied in two key emotional scenes involving his friend Mike (Finn Wolfhard) and his brother Jonathan (Charlie Heaton).
17-year-old Schnapp, who himself had previously deflected answering the question a few weeks back that Will’s sexuality was “up for interpretation,” now confirmed to Variety that he can talk about it and Will definitely is gay:
“I mean, it’s pretty clear this season that Will has feelings for Mike. They’ve been intentionally pulling that out over the past few seasons.
Obviously, it was hinted at in Season 1: It was always kind of there, but you never really knew, is it just him growing up slower than his friends? 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.
I think for Season 4, it was just me playing this character who loves his best friend but struggles with knowing if he’ll be accepted or not, and feeling like a mistake and like he doesn’t belong.
Will has always felt like that. All his friends, they all have girlfriends and they all fit into their different clubs. Will has never really found anywhere to fit in. 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.”
Schnapp also confirmed the scene with the brothers was actually not originally written in the script and was added as they were filming, resulting in one of the finale’s more emotional moments.
Creators Matt & Ross Duffer have previously stated that in the upcoming fifth and final season that they’re going to focus more on Will and build that storyline to bring things around full circle and solve lingering questions regarding his connection to the Upside Down.
