Stranger Things actor Noah Schnapp on his character's sexuality: It's up to the audience’s interpretation if Will is really gay

With 16 primary characters, at least a dozen new characters, and five key locales, including a Soviet-era prison and a converted underground missile silo somewhere in the American West, it's remarkable that Stranger Things Season 4 has any time to examine quiet moments of human growth. However, anyone following Will Byers' (Noah Schnapp) journey through the show will notice that the kid who survived the Upside Down has struggled to reconnect with his old Dungeons and Dragons friends for reasons that don't appear to have anything to do with being kidnapped by a Demogorgon from another dimension. Will, in particular, appears to be gay and struggling to come out.

In Season 4, that impression has simply gotten stronger. Will and Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) are required to deliver a presentation at their new California high school on a hero they like; Will chooses Alan Turing, a gay mathematician who was jailed for his sexuality in the 1950s and forced to endure chemical castration. He will also recoil physically when a girl expresses interest in him. And when Mike (Finn Wolfhard) comes to visit from Hawkins during spring break in Episode 2, Will is visibly upset that Mike has been so uninterested in him in favour of his girlfriend, Eleven.

Later, when Mike confides in Will that he wishes he'd conveyed his love for Eleven more explicitly to her, Will provides advice that anyone working up the guts to come out to a best friend could benefit from.

However, in a Variety interview with Schnapp and Brown, the former expressed ambiguity about how the show's writers, led by creators and executive producers Matt and Ross Duffer, have handled Will's sexuality.

He said that he feels like they never truly address it or openly explain how Will is. The actor thinks that's the beauty of it: it's up to the spectator to decide if Will is simply refusing to grow up and growing up slower than his peers, or if he is truly gay.

Brown chimed in and said that it's 2022, and one doesn't have to label stuff. The actor supposes what she likes best about Will's character is that he's simply a regular guy dealing with his own personal troubles and demons. There are a lot of young people who don't know, and that's fine. It's fine if they don't know and it's fine if they don't label things.

Schnapp concurred and said that he finds that people reach for a label and just want to know, like, 'Oh, and this is it. He shared that his character is simply befuddled and maturing. That's what it's like to be a child.

Other Stranger Things cast members, on the other hand, appear to have a stronger opinion of Will. Wolfhard and fellow cast members David Harbour, Winona Ryder, and Caleb McLaughlin were quizzed about fan theories for the show in a promotional film for Netflix Mexico released on May 23, including one that Will and Eleven are having a secret romance in California and hiding it from Mike.

Harbour explained that if one has been watching the series, they know Will isn't interested in El. Instead, he's interested in one of the other members of the group. Will wants to be in the basement with Mike playing D&D for the rest of his life.

Will and Eleven's connection is "like brother and sister," according to Wolfhard, who also teased that audiences will "see soon" who Will is "interested" in or "extremely interested," according to Harbour. But, if it's coming, it won't happen in Season 4's first volume, which closes with Episode 7.

Schnapp and Brown, for one, are relieved that Will's sexuality has stayed ambiguous. The latter said that it's such a fantastic part for Noah to perform and to be a role model for youngsters who don't understand what they're going through as they grow up.

Schnapp continued, saying that Will is a zebra in a field of horses. He's a little different and it's simply good to see it and have it on Stranger Things for people to relate to and connect with. because a large number of their viewers are young children at that stage of their lives.