Stranger Things: Noah Schnapp confirms rumors about Will’s character

Warning, spoilers! The following article reveals important information about Season 4 of Stranger Things.

Since Stranger Things debuted in 2016, audiences have been able to watch—literally—each young lead actor grow up. And that’s perhaps even more true for the youngest of them all, Noah Schnapp.

His character, Will Byers, will have seen it all: after being held captive and captured by the Mind Flayer, he ends up feeling neglected by his best friends as they discover girls and mature into the world. beyond their days. Plays Dungeons & Dragons. Will didn’t take the same path, and during the recently concluded Season 4, he tried to explain why to his best friend, Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard).

Although speculations about the character’s sexual orientation have been swirling for several years, some viewers recently criticized the creators for not going all in on the matter.

Noah Schnapp finally opened up about it in an exclusive interview with Variety. In an interview last May with co-star Millie Bobby Brown, the young actor initially said Willie’s sexuality was “up to society’s interpretation.” But in a new interview on July 14, he finally confirmed the rumor.

“It’s pretty clear this season that Will has feelings for Mike.He adds:Obviously, it was hinted at in season one: it was always there, but you never really knew it, is it just that he grows up slower than his friends? Now that he’s older, they’ve made it very real and obvious. It is now 100% clear that she is gay and loves Mike. But it used to be a slow arc. I think it’s very well done because it’s so easy to make a character suddenly gay.“

Thus, the actor called the character created by the Duffer brothers “real”. “All of his friends have girlfriends and they all fit into their different clubs. I can never find where it fits. I think that’s why so many people come to me and tell me this‘They love Will so much and identify with him because he is such a real character.”

He particularly remembers a particular meeting that made him proud. “I was in Paris and this 40-year-old man came up to me and said, “Wow, this character of Willie felt good. And I recognized so much. This is exactly how I was when I was a child.” I was just so happy to hear that. They write this real character, this real journey, and this real struggle, and they do it well.“

Noah Schnapp also returned to the famous conversation that Will and Mike have in the van in Season 4, Episode 8, where Will almost confides his feelings to his friend, but through the prism of Eleven. “This scene was really important for her because it really reinforced this truth that she loves her best friend and doesn’t know how to tell her.“

Another key sequence of the season for Will, of course, is when his older brother Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) reveals that he will always have his back, a scene that was not in the original script. Before filming the shot of Jonathan watching his brother cry in the rearview mirror, the Duffer brothers dug into the need.

“They wrote it while we were filming. It is also very important that people see that Will N‘Not alone – because all we see of him is that he struggles and is ridiculed and can’t be himself. Jonathan talks to him in code—it’s just a great way to tell someone like Will that he cares and accepts him no matter what. I think it was really healthy.“

Admittedly, Will’s experiences have not made things any easier for the young man: he is still traumatized, an aspect of the character’s personality that Noah Schnapp wants to interpret accurately.

“It’s this multifaceted trauma that goes back years because he was taken by the Demogorgon and then his friends didn’t recognize him and now he’s afraid to come out and not know if they’ll accept him. And then Elven is like her sister, but she doesn’t want to hurt him because if she says she loves Mike, it will hurt him. It’s all going through his head. So I had to make sure I conveyed the full depth of her trauma.“

As for the rest of the show, the Duffer brothers are set to begin writing it in the coming months, and like us, Noah Schnapp is looking forward to the sequel. “I called them a few weeks ago and said, ‘What’s your plan with Will? With his sexuality, but also‘upside down and all that? They have a lot to do. They are still working, but they have an ultimate goal.“

He also confides in his own expectations for the upcoming 5th season. “Obviously, we’re hoping for an appearance scene, and I also want to see them address that connection with the Mind Flayer and how it fits into the universe. And I’ve always wondered why Willy was the first victim and the first captured… I just want it all to come together and be fixed. I’m excited to see what happens.“

Season 4 of Stranger Things, like its previous seasons, is available on Netflix.