There were various indications that Will Byers was gay and that he harbored feelings for Mike in the first batch of Stranger Things 4 episodes. When Will gave Mike a moving speech about how important he is to people who love him in Stranger Things 4 Vol. 2, the show made it much clearer by claiming that the topic of the conversation was Eleven. Things appeared to be confirmed by the way he sobbed after giving the speech, but actor Noah Schnapp made sure there is no longer any misunderstanding.
“Clearly, it was hinted in Season 1: It was always there, but you never really knew, is it just that he’s maturing more slowly than his friends? They made it a very real, obvious thing now that he’s older,” Schnapp added. “Now it is undeniably evident that he is gay and that he does care about Mike. However, it had a sluggish arc earlier. Because it’s so simple to make a character queer all of a sudden, I believe it’s done so well. People have approached me. I was recently in Paris when a 40-year-old man said, “Wow, this Will character made me feel so amazing.” 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.”
The writers of Stranger Things, Matt and Ross Duffer, have long been interested in Will’s narrative, but they have only recently spoken with Schnapp about it. Schnapp can now review previous seasons and recognise all the clues he first missed.
I wasn’t sure where the Duffers wanted to go with this character back in Season 1 year ago, he continued. “As a result, I was sort of understanding it alongside the audience. But after talking to them and watching the show, I now understand their intentions. Evidently, they also don’t inform me of anything. They will never share anything with me because I always spoil things for them. So I have to figure a lot of it out on my own. And sort of realizing later on, like, ‘Oh this makes sense and this was intentional.’
