Posted in: Netflix, TV | Tagged: LGBTQ, netflix, Noah Schnapp, stranger things, Will Byers

Stranger Things: Noah Schnapp Comes Out as Gay in TikTok Video

Published Thu, 05 Jan 2023 17:39:11 -0600

Last summer, Stranger Things star Noah Schnapp made his thoughts clear after the fourth season had wrapped that there was no doubt that his character, Will Byers, was gay (more on that below). And now, five days into the new year, Schnapp has taken to TikTok to come out as gay. In his video that was posted earlier today, the actor wrote, "When I finally told my friends and family I was gay after being scared in the closet for 18 years and all they said was 'we know'" (with Schnapp lip-syncing an audio clip of someone saying, "You know what it never was? That serious. It was never that serious. Quite frankly, will never be that serious"). Schnapp added to the sentiment in his caption, which read: "I guess I'm more similar to Will than I thought."

Here's a look at Schnapp's TikTok post from earlier today sharing the announcement:

@noahschnappI guess I'm more similar to will than I thought♬ original sound – princessazula0

In an interview with Variety released last summer, Schnapp said that "it's 100% clear that he [Will] is gay and he does love Mike," while explaining why he was so vague about the subject earlier in the season and revealing the talked-about scene from the season finale that wasn't in the original script.

For Schnapp, It Was About Not Spoiling Will's Journey for Viewers: "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. 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. 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."

Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) & Will's Touching Season Finale Scene Wasn't in Original Script: "So this scene was actually not originally written 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. 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."

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