Posted in: Netflix, Stranger Things, streaming, TV | Tagged: LGBTQ, mike wheeler, netflix, Noah Schnapp, stranger things, Will Byers

Stranger Things Star Noah Schnapp: "100% Clear" Will's Gay, Loves Mike

Published Thu, 14 Jul 2022 21:24:12 -0500

by Ray Flook

Comments

Of the dozens upon dozens of topics that fans of Netflix's Stranger Things have been discussing over the course of the series' run, it's the question of Will Byers' (Noah Schnapp) sexuality and what appeared to be his struggles with coming out to his family and friends. In an interview with Variety from back in May, Schnapp and Millie Bobby Brown weighed in on the matter, wondering if it was necessary to label Will at this point in his life.

"I feel like they [the writers] never really address it or blatantly say how Will is. 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," Schnapp said. Brown added, "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. So many kids out there don't know, and that's okay. That's okay to not know. And that's okay not to label things." "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 explained.

Well, now that the dust has settled, Hawkins has gone as close to Hell as possible, and Stranger Things 5 writers' room opening next month, Schnapp has a much more definitive view of Will's sexuality. In an interview with Variety released earlier today, Schnapp says that "it's 100% clear that he 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."

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!