After years of speculation and theories, all of them have finally been confirmed as Noah Schnapp announced that Will is indeed gay in the Netflix series Stranger Things.
Schnapp told Variety in an interview that Will was hinted to be gay since season one and that he “100 percent” loves Mike. Schnapp believes that the slow story arc about Will’s sexuality was “beautifully done” and that people have come up to him, saying that they could relate to the character.
Additionally, Schnapp argued the show tried to make it very clear that Will has feelings for his best friend and that it slowly grew throughout the show.
“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. 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.
Schnapp has also confirmed that Will has been jealous of Eleven since season two as Mike began to have feelings towards her. He believes that Will missed the simple times in season one when they were all playing D&D in the basement but has to accept that everyone is growing up.
“I think it’s kind of Mike dealing with his own stuff. In Season Two, they were best friends and they were so close, and then obviously Mike has all his eyes on Eleven. Will is dealing with a little bit of jealousy there. He just wants his best friend back and wants it to be like what it was in Season 1, when they were playing D&D in his basement. But Mike’s growing out of that and only cares about Eleven right now. I’m interested just to see where the Duffers go with that in Season 5, and how they close out that storyline.”
Will has made multiple subtle nods towards his sexuality and suggested that he may have a crush on his friend Mike. Multiple fans noticed Will’s actions to came across as queer-coded, especially with a notable line from the show where he told Mike that it can be scary to tell people you love how you really feel.
“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 they don’t like the truth?”
Stranger Things seaon four, volumes one and two are now available to stream on Netflix.