Stranger Things Actor Noah Schnapp Says Will Byers' Sexuality Is ‘Up for Interpretation'
WARNING: This article contains spoilers for season 3 of Stranger Things.
It seems Stranger Things fans are not going to get a definite answer on Will Byers’ sexuality, at least for the time being.
During the Netflix hit’s third season — which has smashed streaming records — Will Byers, played by Noah Schnapp, struggles with his best friends spending more time with their girlfriends, leading to an alteration with Mike (Finn Wolfhard), who shouts at him, “It’s not my fault you don’t like girls,” which has lead fans to believe Will may be gay.
However, the topic was never again addressed, and Schnapp, 14, believes that fans will have to come to their own conclusion about Will’s sexual orientation.
“It’s really up to interpretation,” Schnapp told The Wrap of his character’s sexuality. “While all the characters were out developing and growing up, Will was in the Upside Down and he was alone there, not interacting with or connected to his friends or the rest of the world. And when he got back, he expected everything to just go back to how it was before, how it was when he was normal and when he was a kid and he wanted to go back to the basement and play D&D.”
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As for Schnapp’s personal opinion on Will’s sexuality? “I kind of just interpret it like he’s not ready to grow up and he doesn’t really want to move on to dating and relationships yet,” he said. “He still wants to be a kid and play in the basement like he did in old times.”
Viewers have been questioning Will’s sexuality since the first season in 2016, when Will’s time in the Upside Down served as the main plot line. Schapp similarly addressed the topic at the time in an Instagram post.
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“For me, Will being gay or not is besides the point,” Schnapp wrote, according to The Wrap. “‘Stranger Things’ is a show about a bunch of kids who are outsiders and find each other because they have been bullied in some way or are different.”
“Does being sensitive, or a loner, or a teenager who likes photography, or a girl with red hair and big glasses, make you gay?” he added. “I’m only 12 but I do know we all relate to being different.”
Fans will have to wait until the show’s fourth season to find out what is to come for Will, after he departed Hawkins alongside his mother Joyce (Winona Ryder), brother Jonathan (Charlie Heaton), and Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown)
Stranger Things 3 is currently streaming on Netflix.
