‘He does love Mike’: Noah Schnapp confirms Will Byers’ sexuality 

MANILA, Philippines – SPOILER ALERT! After many fans’ speculations, spurred further by the events of the latest season, Stranger Things actor Noah Schnapp verified that his character, Will Byers, is gay.

“Now it’s 100% clear that he is gay and he does love Mike,” said Noah in an interview with Variety on Thursday, July 14.

Since the show’s debut in 2016, fans have been discussing Will Byers’ sexual orientation and the likelihood that ByLer, the ship name for best friends Will and Mike, will be canon. Noah admitted that the Duffer brothers have been deliberately giving small hints throughout the show so they could tie it nicely within the main storyline.

“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,” Noah said.

“Obviously, we hope for a coming out scene,” he added.

Noah believes that this slow and gradual development of Will’s struggle with his sexuality made the journey more genuine. It strengthened the audience’s connection to his character and allowed them to see themselves in Will. 

“I think it’s done so beautifully, because it’s so easy to make a character just like all of a sudden be gay,” the 17-year-old actor said.

“They are writing this real character and this real journey and real struggle, and they’re doing it so well,” he added. 

The queer narrative was made more apparent in Season 4, particularly during the iconic van scene between Mike and Will. The two were having a bittersweet conversation, where the latter was essentially “confessing his feelings” for Mike but was disguising it to be from the perspective of El. Afterwards, Will was seen secretly crying to himself, out of Mike’s view. Will’s older brother, Jonathan (played by Charlie Heaton), observed the heartfelt interaction playing out in the rearview mirror. 

“I love just playing with Will. This scene was really important for him because it really solidified that truth that he loves his best friend and he doesn’t know how to tell him,” Noah explained.

It became so integral to the plot line that the Duffers felt they had to write a follow-up scene between the Byers brothers, where they talked about it – something that was actually not in the original script.

“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,” he recounted.

Stranger Things 4 is the show’s second-to-the-last season. Season five has been confirmed, but details have yet to be announced. 

Stranger Things started airing in 2016. The supernatural horror series features a group of young friends set in the 1980s, played by a star-studded cast that includes Millie Bobby Brown (who plays Eleven) Finn Wolfhard (Mike Wheeler), Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas Sinclair), Sadie Sink (Max Mayfield), Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin Henderson), and more.

All four seasons are available on Netflix. – with reports from Bea Bertuldo/Rappler.com

Bea Bertuldo is a Rappler intern.