Stranger Things: Duffer Brothers respond to criticism of Will’s coming out scene

Matt and Ross Duffer, the brothers and co-creators behind Stranger Things, have defended Will’s coming out scene in the penultimate episode of the final series after it was review-bombed online.

Beware: Spoilers for the final episode of Stranger Things lie ahead.

The fifth and final series of the hit sci-fi show, which started back in 2016, was drip-fed to audiences in three parts, with volume one dropping in November, the second part airing on Christmas Day/Boxing Day and the two hour finale premiering on New Year’s Eve/New Year’s Day.

The penultimate episode of the series, entitled “The Bridge”, saw several key plot points come to a head, including Max (Sadie Sink) finally escaping Vecna’s (Jamie Campbell Bower) grasp and the Party realising Vecna’s plan is to merge alternate dimension The Abyss with the human world.

One of the biggest moment of the episode was Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) coming out as gay, something the season had been building towards after Will accidentally stumbled upon Robin (Maya Hawke) and Vickie (Amybeth McNulty) making out in an empty room at the hospital.

The scene saw Will nervously tell his mother Joyce (Winona Ryder) he needs to tell her and his friends something important.

The rest of the gang are gathered and patiently listen as Will explains all of the similarities he shares with his friends, including dungeons and dragons, bike races and a shared love of Steve Martin, before adding that despite those similarities he is different to them, concluding: “…I just don’t like girls.”

Will chose to open up about his sexuality to prevent Vecna using it against him in the epic final battle to come.

“I had this crush on someone, even though I know they’re not like me,” Will said, looking at his best friend and unrequited love Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard) – which is a fan-favourite ship in the show.

The scene concludes with Will’s friends and family confirming they love and support him regardless of his sexuality.

Despite the touching scene resonating with many LGBTQ+ folks young and old, the episode was review-bombed on rating and review site IMDb.

Some of the reviews were from homophobic individuals who bizarrely felt that in a show about interdimensional monsters and superpowers a character happening to be gay is unrealistic, whilst many other negative reviews were from queer fans themselves who felt Will’s coming out was poorly written and awkwardly constructed.

In response, the Duffer Brothers admitted they did not expect the backlash to the episode.

“Because it is, as Ross said, something we’ve been building for a really long time,” Matt Duffer told Variety in a lengthy interview. “I always say, Ross and I are many things, but subtle is not one of those things!”

Discussing the scene in more depth, the two described said the moment took a long time to develop and heaped praise on Schnapp – who himself came out as gay in 2023 – for how he handled the emotional moment.

“The coming out scene is something we’ve been building to for nine years now. It was a really important scene for us, and a really important scene for Noah — not just from a thematic point of view, but also a narrative point of view,” Ross Duffer told the outlet.

“This show has always been about our characters overcoming evil, and in order to overcome this evil, Vecna, in so many ways, represents all the dark thoughts and the evil of society. And for our characters to overcome that, it really becomes about embracing themselves, and then also embracing one another and coming together.”

Matt said Will’s coming out is “the final step” in his journey and “in so many ways, the key to defeating Vecna”.

“Volume 1 is really about self-acceptance, right?” he explained.

“I mean, that’s sort of step one. And then step two is Will is talking to Robin — it’s something that he wants to do.

“He’s trying to figure out how to come out, and he knows that he needs to do that, and that that’s the final step for him. And he finds the courage to be able to do it. And it’s really the ultimate f**k you to Vecna. That was the intention.”

Ross affirmed that they remain proud of the episode, the scene and Schnapp, who he said “gave a really brave, very vulnerable performance”.

“I think that’s where Ross and I were most sensitive, was Noah — because of how close to home this hit for him,” he continued.

“And our goal was to make sure that he was comfortable and happy with the scene. And when he was, we felt good about it.

“I’ve been texting with him a lot, but texting with him specifically after that scene and after that episode aired. And he’s in a really good place. He’s very proud of the scene, and we’re proud of the scene.”