While plenty of supernatural twists and turns were explored in “Stranger Things” Season 4, one of the more personal mysteries concerned Will Byers’ (Noah Schnapp) sexuality and his potential romantic feelings for his best friend Mike (Finn Wolfhard). And while Will doesn’t explicitly profess his feelings for his friend in the season, fans came away with a pretty good understanding of how Will actual felt.
Now, actor Noah Schnapp is confirming what’s been teased through the series for years now: Will is gay and he’s in love with Mike.
Season 4 looked to be directly addressing Will’s feelings in some form or fashion through the first batch of episodes, and in Volume 2, Will gives his best friend Mike a pep talk about saving Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) that, subtexually, serves as something of a confession for how much Mike means to him.
While Will doesn’t officially come out in Season 4, Schnapp told Variety the arc for his character is clear.
“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. 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.”
While the scene in the van between Will and Mike is a heartbreaking moment for Schnapp’s character, another emotional breakthrough comes when his brother Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) picks up on Will’s feelings and gives him a pep talk of his own. As it turns out, that scene wasn’t originally in the script.
“It was only until after I did the scene of me in the van, where they saw me crying and the protectiveness that you see with Jonathan looking in the rearview mirror,” Schnapp said. “They were like, we need a scene with that. So they wrote it as we were filming. It’s also very important for people to see that Will is not alone — because all we ever see of him is struggling and feeling depressed and that he can’t be himself. Jonathan is talking to him in code — it’s just the perfect way to tell someone like Will that he cares about him and he accepts him no matter what. I think it was really wholesome.”
“Stranger Things” creators the Duffer Brothers have said that Will will be a central focus of the upcoming fifth and final season, now that the whole crew is back in Hawkins with Vecna having broken through the Upside Down and descending upon the town.
“Will’s going to be a big part and focus, is really all I can say of Season 5, in his journey,” Matt Duffer told Collider. “We’re starting to see his coming of age, really. Which has been challenging for a number of reasons, some of which are supernatural. But you’re starting to see him come into his own.” Ross Duffer added, “[It’s] setting up us coming full circle back to Season 1. I think you’ll see that with a couple of the character arcs, not just with Will. But also with Steve and Nancy, and her relationship with Jonathan where things are not fully resolved. The characters have maybe made steps, like in the case of Will, but that journey isn’t over yet. All of that is going to play a huge role as we try to wrap this thing up next season.”
Netflix has not yet set a release date for “Stranger Things” Season 5, but the Duffers say they’re set to start writing the final season in August.
