Stranger Things' Noah Schnapp finally confirms Will's sexuality

It's been the elephant in the room that no one confirmed directly — until now.

Since Stranger Things 3, when Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard) yells at Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) about not liking girls, viewers have been speculating about Will's sexuality.

During a 2019 interview with The Wrap for season three, Noah said that Will's sexuality was "really up to interpretation".

However, in light of the conclusion of Stranger Things 4, where two major scenes heavily imply that Will is gay, Noah is now confirming that Will is indeed so.

Speaking to Variety, 17-year-old Noah said: "Now it's 100 per cent clear that he is gay and he does love Mike."

He explained: "Obviously, it was hinted at in season one. 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."

For Noah, the slow burn towards the reveal of the character's sexuality was done beautifully because it captured a "real journey and real struggle".

"It's so easy to make a character just like all of a sudden be gay... I was just in Paris and this 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'," he shared.

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As for the iconic scene where Will almost all but confessed his love for Mike in the van, Noah said it took all day to film the scene and he remembered "bawling, like, going all out the whole day".

In fact, that scene even inspired another emotional one between Will and his brother Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) where the latter affirmed his love for his little brother no matter what.

Noah revealed: "So this scene was actually not originally written in the script. It was only until after I did the scene of me in the van, where they saw me crying and the protectiveness that you see with Jonathan looking in the rearview mirror. They were like, we need a scene with that...

"It’s also very important for people to see that Will is not alone — because all we ever see of him is struggling and feeling depressed and that he can’t be himself. Jonathan is talking to him in code — it’s just the perfect way to tell someone like Will that he cares about him and he accepts him no matter what. I think it was really wholesome."

Stranger Things 4 is now streaming on Netflix.

bryanlim@asiaone.com