One Stranger Things character who has had a ridiculously tough time of it since the show began is Will Byers. In the first couple of seasons, Will got trapped in the Upside Down and then possessed by the Mind Flayer, and in the third and fourth seasons he’s met an even worse fate: being pushed to the sidelines of the plot as new characters come in and steal the spotlight. It turns out the writers care about him so little at this point that they’ve forgotten his birthday… We think.
In season four, episode two, “Vecna’s Curse”, Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), Mike (Finn Wolfhard), and Will (Noah Schnapp) go skating at Rink-Mania, where El has a devastating encounter with her bullies. While that’s no fun for her, it seems Will had an equally bad day. One shot views El’s embarrassment from the point of view of a video camera, which reveals the date is March 22. Back in season two, Joyce (Winona Ryder) confirmed this was Will’s birthday.
Absolutely no mention is made of the importance of the date in the episode itself, although you could argue this is why Will is so short-tempered during these scenes. However, it’s indicated that his mood is to do with his secret feelings for Mike. In a Reddit thread discussing the same topic, fans can’t make up their minds whether this was an ingenious background detail that was deliberately placed for people to pick up on… or if the writers just totally omitted the significance of March 22 from their memories.
Some are sure that Will’s forgotten birthday will be mentioned somewhere in season four, volume two.
Others think that creators the Duffer brothers might reference it in season five, now that fans have called them out on their error.
It can’t just be a coincidence, right?
Actually, it could, as there were only two days on which this episode could’ve taken place.
And would Joyce really forget her own son’s big day?
It turns out this episode is a backdoor remake of Sixteen Candles.
We’ll find out if Will’s missed birthday was a callback or a goof when Stranger Things 4 concludes on July 1.
