Noah Schnapp says Will Byer’s sexuality will be ‘major plot point’ in Stranger Things season five
Noah Schnapp plays Will on Stranger Things. (Getty)
Ahead of the premiere of Stranger Things season five later this month, actor Noah Schnapp has revealed that his character’s sexuality will be explored further before the series ends.
Schnapp plays Will Byers in the Netflix series about a group of Indiana kids fighting monsters from a parallel world known as The Upside Down.
With the final season set to begin soon (the first four episodes drop on 26 November, three more on Christmas Day, and the finale on New Year’s Eve) the cast are hot on the promo tour.
Speaking to GQ alongside cast mates Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo and Caleb McLaughlin, who play Mike, Dustin and Lucas respectively, Schnapp delved into season five as well as the effect the show has had on him.
“Seeing how the world receives Will, and embraces him, has taught me through the years to feel OK in who I am and how I express myself,” he said about art imitating life. Both the character and the star are gay.
Fans have pretty much always believed Will was gay, and that was confirmed in season four when he indicated his secret love for Mike. Schnapp came out as gay a little later, on TikTok in 2023.
“[Stranger Things] didn’t just help find my own identity sexually,” Schnapp continued. “As a person, it taught me that it’s OK to be me, as everything that I am. That’s what’s so special about our show and what’s so special about Will. It doesn’t resonate with queer people, it resonates with all people who feel different.”
His comments echo those he made in 2023 when speaking to Variety about coming out. “Once I did fully embrace that Will was gay, it was just an exponential speed towards accepting it for myself,” he said.
There have been some calls to boycott the new season of Stranger Things, with Schnapp facing criticism for his comments about Israel amid its military action in Gaza. He was seen with stickers that read “Zionism is sexy” in November 2023.
In January the following year, he posted a TikTok video addressing the controversy. “I feel my thoughts and beliefs have been so far misconstrued from anything even close to what I believe,” he said in the now-deleted video.
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