An evolving journey. Throughout the years, Stranger Things has created a space for Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) to explore his identity — a topic that has caught the attention of fans and cast members alike.
When Stranger Things debuted in 2016, viewers were introduced to Will as the child who suddenly went missing in Hawkins, Indiana. The character appeared largely offscreen until he escaped from the Upside Down at the end of season 1.
Amid the traumatic experience, Will struggled to return to his normal life as things around him changed and the monsters from the Upside Down returned. Discussion around Will’s sexuality came to light during season 3, when he got in a fight with Mike (Finn Wolfhard) who said, “It’s not my fault you don’t like girls.”
In response to the scene, Schnapp revealed that he didn’t read too much into what Mike might have meant about his character’s personal life.
“It’s really up to interpretation,” the Bridge of Spies actor told The Wrap in July 2019. “While all the characters were out developing and growing up, Will was in the Upside Down and he was alone there, not interacting with or connected to his friends or the rest of the world. And when he got back, he expected everything to just go back to how it was before, how it was when he was normal and when he was a kid and he wanted to go back to the basement and play Dungeons & Dragons.”
Fans continued to question whether Will’s sexuality might be addressed in season 4. During Volume 1, Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) hinted that Will might be interested in someone while writing a letter to Mike. Will, who later visibly recoiled when a girl tried to flirt with him, chose gay mathematician Alan Turing as his hero for a class presentation.
Season 4, which dropped in May 2022, also hinted that Will’s painting for Mike might hold a large significance. After working out his rough patch with his best friend, Will offers Mike advice that alluded to his own life.
“Sometimes, I think it’s just scary, to open up like that — to say how you really feel, especially to people you care about the most,” Will told Mike. “Because what if — what if they don’t like the truth?”
Amid the speculation, executive producer Shawn Levy confirmed that all story lines would be wrapped up in Volume 2. “Without getting into where we go later in season 4, I guess I’ll just say that there aren’t many accidents on Stranger Things,” the director told Entertainment Weekly in May 2022. “There is clear intention and strategy and real thought given to each and every character. So, if you came away from Volume I feeling those bread crumbs of plot and character, it’s probably no accident.”
In January 2023, Schnapp credited his Stranger Things role while coming out as gay. “I guess I’m more similar to Will than I thought,” he captioned the TikTok video.
Scroll down for the Stranger Things cast’s insight on Will’s journey with his identity:
An evolving journey. Throughout the years, Stranger Things has created a space for Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) to explore his identity — a topic that has caught the attention of fans and cast members alike.
When Stranger Things debuted in 2016, viewers were introduced to Will as the child who suddenly went missing in Hawkins, Indiana. The character appeared largely offscreen until he escaped from the Upside Down at the end of season 1.
Amid the traumatic experience, Will struggled to return to his normal life as things around him changed and the monsters from the Upside Down returned. Discussion around Will’s sexuality came to light during season 3, when he got in a fight with Mike (Finn Wolfhard) who said, “It’s not my fault you don’t like girls.”
In response to the scene, Schnapp revealed that he didn’t read too much into what Mike might have meant about his character’s personal life.
“It’s really up to interpretation,” the Bridge of Spies actor told The Wrap in July 2019. “While all the characters were out developing and growing up, Will was in the Upside Down and he was alone there, not interacting with or connected to his friends or the rest of the world. And when he got back, he expected everything to just go back to how it was before, how it was when he was normal and when he was a kid and he wanted to go back to the basement and play Dungeons & Dragons.”
Fans continued to question whether Will’s sexuality might be addressed in season 4. During Volume 1, Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) hinted that Will might be interested in someone while writing a letter to Mike. Will, who later visibly recoiled when a girl tried to flirt with him, chose gay mathematician Alan Turing as his hero for a class presentation.
Season 4, which dropped in May 2022, also hinted that Will’s painting for Mike might hold a large significance. After working out his rough patch with his best friend, Will offers Mike advice that alluded to his own life.
“Sometimes, I think it’s just scary, to open up like that — to say how you really feel, especially to people you care about the most,” Will told Mike. “Because what if — what if they don’t like the truth?”
Amid the speculation, executive producer Shawn Levy confirmed that all story lines would be wrapped up in Volume 2. “Without getting into where we go later in season 4, I guess I’ll just say that there aren’t many accidents on Stranger Things,” the director told Entertainment Weekly in May 2022. “There is clear intention and strategy and real thought given to each and every character. So, if you came away from Volume I feeling those bread crumbs of plot and character, it’s probably no accident.”
In January 2023, Schnapp credited his Stranger Things role while coming out as gay. “I guess I’m more similar to Will than I thought,” he captioned the TikTok video.
Scroll down for the Stranger Things cast’s insight on Will’s journey with his identity:
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Credit: Netflix
Addressing the Distance
“All his friends have girlfriends and they’re out dating, and he just wants to have fun with his friends,” Schnapp detailed to The Wrap in July 2019. “You see in [season 3] episode 3, he just wants to play D&D in the basement, and now all of his friends have girlfriends and they are dating. I kind of just interpret it like he’s not ready to grow up and he doesn’t really want to move on to dating and relationships yet. He still wants to be a kid and play in the basement like he did in old times.”
Credit: Netflix
Creating Subtext
In 2020, Wolfhard opened up about shooting the moment where Mike tells Will that he isn’t interested in girls.
“There were a lot of different versions of that scene. We tried, ‘It’s not my fault you don’t like girls yet.’ So, we did a bunch of different things to it, and it was up to the Duffers,” the It actor recalled to The Hollywood Reporter about how the actors left it to series creators Ross and Matt Duffer to decide. “I don’t even know if it had to do with Will’s sexuality. I think Mike was just mad and listing a genuine fact that he’s not interested. So, I guess we’ll see what it really meant, but it’s all up to the Duffers and what they want to do.”
Justin Ivey, who directed the season 3 episode, later addressed claims that there was intended subtext about Will’s sexuality. “It’s not specific to sexual orientation or anything,” Ivey explained during an interview with Entertainment Weekly two years later, before noting, “Ever since then, a lot of these questions have come up.”
Credit: Netflix
Reading Between the Lines
After the first installment of season 4, Schnapp revealed that he supported the ambiguity behind Will’s personal life.
“I feel like [creators Ross and Matt Duffer] never really address it or blatantly say how Will is,” he told Variety in May 2022. “I think that’s the beauty of it, that it’s just up to the audience’s interpretation, if it’s Will kind of just refusing to grow up and growing up slower than his friends, or if he is really gay.”
For the New York native, it was more meaningful not to address Will’s feelings about romance. “I find that people do reach to put a label on him and just want to know, so badly, like, ‘Oh, and this is it.’ He’s just confused and growing up. And that’s what it is to be a kid,” Schnapp shared.
Credit: Courtesy of Netflix
Leaving Room for Interpretation
“Can I just say, it’s 2022 and we don’t have to label things. I think what’s really nice about Will’s character is that he’s just a human being going through his own personal demons and issues,” Brown explained to Variety after season 4 premiered in May 2022. “So many kids out there don’t know, and that’s OK. That’s OK to not know. And that’s OK not to label things.”
The Emmy nominee continued: “It’s such an amazing role for Noah to play. And to be that role model for kids out there who don’t know what they’re going through growing up.”
Credit: Netflix
Making It Clear
While discussing fan theories about season 4, David Harbour shut down assumptions that Will may be interested in his onscreen daughter.
“If you have been watching the show, you should know that Will is not interested in Eleven. He is interested in someone else in the group,” the Black Widow actor teased during an interview with Netflix Mexico. At the time, Wolfhard agreed with Harbour, adding, “You will see soon.”
Harbour later elaborated on Will’s connection with his best friend, saying, “Will wants to be in the basement with Mike playing D&D for the rest of his life.”
Credit: Netflix
A Deeper Connection
Ahead of the second installment of season 4, Wolfhard addressed speculation that Will’s feelings for Mike are turning romantic. “Yeah. I think you find out slowly through the season, Will’s kind of love towards Mike and I think it’s a really beautiful thing,” he told Digital Spy in May 2022.
Credit: Courtesy of Netflix
No More Ambiguity
After Schnapp praised the Duffer Brothers for not labeling Will, the creators confirmed that there would be a resolution to the character’s journey. “This is where it gets tricky since we haven’t released the whole season yet. I just want people to watch the final two episodes,” Matt told TVLine.com about season 4 in June 2022.
Ross, for his part, added, “We have story arcs and we have character arcs. How we structured [the season], we’ve released the first two acts of this story. The final act, which is the last two episodes, resolves a lot of things, both character and story, and then some of it is also setting up for our final season.”
Credit: Ursula Coyote/Netflix
Read Between the Lines
After the second installment of season 4 ambiguously confirmed Will’s growing feelings for Mike, Schnapp defended the decision to keep it vague due to the time period.
“First of all it’s the 80s and the kids a FRESHMAN in hs. Let them slowly develop the plot and when he does come out it will be really special and real,” the actor wrote in the comments section of a since-deleted TikTok that questioned the writing choice in July 2022.
Credit: Courtesy of Netflix
Noah’s Confirmation
In July 2022, Schnapp confirmed Will’s sexuality in an interview with Variety. “Now that he’s gotten older, they made it a very real, obvious thing,” he told the outlet. “Now it’s 100 percent 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.”
He added that fans have told him they support Will’s character arc even though it’s been somewhat of a slow burn. “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,'” Schnapp recalled. “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.”
