Noah Schnapp Confirms His ‘Stranger Things’ Character Will Byers Is Gay

Last May, when the first half of Strange things‘fourth season dropped, Noah Schnapp vague when Diversity asked many viewers if they were right when they deduced that his character Will was gay: The actor said that Will’s gender “depends on how the audience interprets it”. But now that the full season is over, and his feelings for his best friend, Mike (Finn Wolfhard), become more public, Schapp confirms Will is homosexual, telling Diversity that he was less outspoken than before to stop spoilers before it all became clear in the new episodes. “Now that he’s aged, they’ve taken it for granted, very real. It is now 100% clear that he is gay and that he loves Mike,” Schnapp explained. “But before, it was a slow arc. I think it’s done so wonderfully, because it’s so easy to make a character like it’s suddenly gay.”

Fans have been curious about Will’s gender since the show started in 2016. In 2018, a Strange things The companion book contains an early outline of the Duffer Brothers’ show: While the initial pitch offered major differences from what the show eventually became (e.g., title and context). its scene), it listed a character named, “Will Byers, twelve, [who] was a sweet child, sensitive to issues of sexual identity,” he read.

This appeared in response to a line in the third installment that raised additional hypotheses. During an argument with Will, Mike said, “It’s not my fault, you don’t like girls”, and though Wolfhard downplayed whether the line was sexually explicit in one of Will’s Hollywood Reporter interview, it keeps the topic in everyone’s mind. But season four is more explicit, including scenes where Will talks about Eleven and Mike’s relationship as a surrogate for himself. “When you are different, sometimes you feel like you were a mistake. But you make her feel like it’s not her fault. It’s like she’s better to be different and that gives her the courage to fight,” he said; followed by an emotional and supportive conversation with his brother, Jonathan.

“Clearly this season Will has feelings for Mike,” said Schnapp Diversity in his recent, more candid interview. “They have deliberately pulled that out over the past few seasons. Even in Season 1, they alluded to that and slowly, slowly developed that plot. I think for Season 4, I just played this character who loves his best friend but struggles with knowing if he’s accepted, and feels like a mistake and as if he’s not. Belong to me. “

Schnapp was also asked about a much-discussed TikTok where, since being deleted, he shared that there was a DM chat in which Doja Cat asked him if his co-star Joseph Quinn was still single no and he told her to “slide into his DM”. The frustrated musician later described his behavior as “border snake”, although Schnapp said Diversity that he apologized and both came back fine.

“I posted without thinking much, but it clearly hurt her feelings. So, logically, I apologized and she was perfectly fine with that, and was like, ‘I’m sorry for how I reacted,’ Schapp said. “All is good. I love her. I’m like her biggest music fan, and I told her that. I was like, you really are my role model. All is good.”