Stranger Things star Noah Schnapp comes out as gay: 'Guess I'm more similar to Will than I thought'

Noah Schnapp is living his truth.

The 18-year-old actor, best known for playing the closeted gay teenager Will Byers on Netflix's hit sci-fi series Stranger Things, came out as gay in a TikTok video posted Thursday. "I guess I'm more similar to [Will] than I thought," he wrote in the caption.

The video features Schnapp reclining and lip-syncing to audio saying, "You know what it never was? That serious. Quite frankly, it will never be that serious." In text atop the video, Schnapp wrote, "When I finally told my friends and family I was gay after being scared in the closet for 18 years and all they said was 'we know.'"

Representatives for Schnapp said the actor had no further comment at this time.

The sexual orientation of Schnapp's TV alter ego has been the subject of much discussion among Stranger Things fans over the years, and Schnapp confirmed last summer that Will is gay and in love with his best friend Mike (Finn Wolfhard). That revelation came after seasons' worth of teases and hints, like a season 3 episode in which Mike yelled at him, "It's not my fault you don't like girls!" following a heated Dungeons & Dragons session.

"Obviously, it was hinted at in season 1," Schnapp told Variety in July, after the second volume of season 4 dropped. "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 percent clear that he is gay and he does love Mike. But before, it was a slow arc."

Ursula Coyote/Netflix Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler and Noah Schnapp as Will Byers on 'Stranger Things'

Stranger Things director and executive producer Shawn Levy previously told EW that the season 3 scene wasn't specific to sexual orientation, though he added, "There aren't many accidents on Stranger Things. There is clear intention and strategy and real thought given to each and every character. So if you came away from [season 4, volume 1] feeling those breadcrumbs of plot and character, it's probably no accident."

Schnapp had played coy about Will's sexuality in past interviews but later acknowledged that the subject was open to interpretation. "I think that's the beauty of it, that it's just up to the audience's interpretation," he told Variety in May. "If it's Will kind of just refusing to grow up and growing up slower than his friends, or if he is really gay."

Related content:

• Stranger Things star Noah Schnapp responds to Bachelor's Hannah Godwin calling him out on TikTok

• Stranger Things' Noah Schnapp becomes Doja Cat's wingman, helps her slide into costar Joseph Quinn's DMs

• How Stranger Things season 4 is setting up the final season