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

Noah Schnapp has portrayed one of the main characters in the hit Netflix series ‘Stranger Things’ since the show’s inception in 2016. The show’s first major story arc surrounded the mysterious disappearance of Will Byers. As the characters grew up, there was something about Will’s development that fans quickly picked up on.

Most thought that Will Byers simply refused to grow up while his friends started dating, playing sports, and doing other things besides hanging out together. As the series progressed, Will’s behavior and feelings became more complex. Noah Schnapp has hinted in the past that his character might be struggling with his sexual identity.

In a recent interview with Variety, Schnapp revealed that Will Byers is, in fact, gay. He is also in love with his best friend, Mike, who is played by Finn Wolfhard. Schnapp said the entire arc developed beautifully over the years.

“Yeah, I think it is. Obviously, it was hinted at in Season 1: 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. Now it’s 100% clear that he is gay and he does love Mike.

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But before, it was a slow arc. I think it is done so beautifully, because it’s so easy to make a character just like all of a sudden be gay. 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 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.”

One of the things fans love the most about Stranger Things has been watching the main characters transform from young kids into teenagers. Just like in real life, sometimes that period can present a young person with major conflicts. Noah Schnapp is happy to have been able to portray such a coming-of-age story as Will Byers grew up.

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