‘Stranger Things’ Fan Speculation Confirmed: Will Byers is Gay
“When a young boy vanishes, a small town uncovers a mystery involving secret experiments, terrifying supernatural forces, and one strange little girl.”
Since 2016, the Netflix show Stranger Things has thrilled and captivated the world, winning 63 awards and earning more than 150 nominations. Set in 1980s Hawkins, Indiana, we see characters Will Byers, Mike Wheeler, Lucas Sinclair, Dustin Henderson, Eleven, and others fight to understand and protect their hometown from various evils, seemingly cultivating in the “upside down,” a supernatural horror realm.
Since early on in the show, it has been abundantly clear that Will, played by Noah Schnapp, has had no interest in girls. Instead, spending time with his best friend Mike, played by Finn Wolfhard, is what Will truly wants.
“It’s not my fault you don’t like girls; I mean what did you think, really? That we were never going to get girlfriends, that we were just going to sit in my basement and play games for the rest of our lives?” Mike questions Will in Season Three of the show.
“Yeah, I guess I did,” Will responds.
“Even in Season One, they hinted at that, and slowly, slowly grew that storyline. It’s pretty clear this season that Will has feelings for Mike. I think for Season Four, 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,” Schnapp says in an interview with Vanity. “Will has always felt like that. Will has never really found anywhere to fit in. I think that’s why so many people come up to me and tell me that they love Will and they resonate with him so much, because it’s such a real character.”
In the most recent season, Will and Mike have a specific conversation which many see as Will talking about his fear of coming out. “When you’re different, sometimes you feel like a mistake,” Will says to Mike while discussing Mike’s crush on Eleven, later adding, “Sometimes, I think it’s just scary, to open up like that—to say how you really feel, especially to people you care about the most, because what if—what if they don’t like the truth?”
We’ve seen Will truly struggle with feeling alone and isolated as a result of his time in the upside down. Now, we get to see him grow more comfortable and confident in himself and his identity, we cannot help but love him more.
“Now that he’s gotten older, they made it a very real, an obvious thing. Now it’s 100% clear that he is gay, and he does love Mike,” Schnapp explains. “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.”
Will Byers represents thousands of LGBTQ teenagers struggling to find their place in the world. He has been a relatable main character in the show for its four seasons. We’ve seen him grow and become more comfortable in himself, and we come to understand and love him as he faces innumerable struggles and comes to terms with his sexuality.
“I feel like they never really address it or blatantly say how Will is,” he says. “I think that’s the beauty of it, that it’s just up to the audience’s interpretation, if it’s Will kind of just refusing to grow up and growing up slower than his friends, or if he is really gay.” Schnapp says to Vanity.
“Will is kind of like a zebra in a field of horses,” Schnapp adds. “He kind of stands out. It’s just nice to see that and have that shown on Stranger Things for fans to connect to and be able to relate to because so many of our viewers are young kids who are at that stage in their life.”
Photo courtesy of Twitter
