Featured Image Credit: Netflix
Topics: Stranger Things, TV and Film, Netflix, LGBTQ
Stewart Perrie
Noah Schnapp has confirmed what many have suspected since Stranger Things season four was released.
Many of the teenage characters in the iconic Netflix shows have found love interests so far, however Schnapp's Will Byers has been mysteriously single.
Many suggested the character could be gay and there were loads of hints about it in the latest season.
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However, the actor who portrays the Hawkins teen has finally come out and said it.
"It’s pretty clear this season that Will has feelings for Mike," he said to Variety.
"They’ve been intentionally pulling that out over the past few seasons. Even in Season 1, they hinted at that and slowly, slowly grew that storyline.
"I think for Season 4, it was just me playing this character who loves his best friend but struggles with knowing if he’ll be accepted or not, and feeling like a mistake and like he doesn’t belong.
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"Will has always felt like that."
When the first volume of season four was released back in May, Schnapp told Variety that Will's sexuality was 'up to the audience’s interpretation'.
However, by the time volume two rolled out, it became much more apparent that Will wanted his friendship with Mike (Finn Wolfhard) to be more than just Dungeons and Dragons buddies.
Schnapp's character has been pretty preoccupied in previous seasons with battling the demons from the Upside Down.
But season four was a chance for him to explore more elements to Will Byers.
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"I had to explore him navigating his personal identity issues and struggling with growing up and assimilating into high school. It was new for me," he explained to Variety.
While it was tough seeing Will feeling alone and struggling with his personal identity, Noah Schnapp says loads of people have told him that his storyline has helped validate real-life issues.
"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 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."
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He also said the scene they filmed between Will and his older brother Jonathan was written while they were filming to help the character feel like he wasn't truly alone.