It’s been a few weeks since Stranger Things 4: Part One was released and it’s not long until the final Mind Flayer-sized episodes of Part Two come out on July 1. In the time since the season was released and after countless articles, tweets, fan-forum posts, and cast interviews parsing just about every single detail of the episodes, there’s still one question lingering on our minds: Is Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) going to come out this year?
After going down a rabbit hole of those aforementioned fan theories and interviews, we’ve gathered the facts and put the whole thing together so you don’t have to.
If you’ve been following the rumor mill, you’ll know there’s a certain plot that has been on the show’s back burner for at least a season: Will Beyer’s sexuality. It all started in Season 3, Episode 3, when Will and Mike (Finn Wolfhard) got into an argument after Mike stopped focusing on Dungeons & Dragons because he started dating Elle (Millie Bobby Brown). Will is super upset that their dynamic has been changed and Mike shouts, “It’s not my fault you don’t like girls!” It wasn’t long before the massive fanbase began speculating what this small moment could mean for the future, but the show has been slow to give us any other development on this story.
Through this year’s round of press, however, it’s become clear—as clear as anything can be in the lies-and-deceit game of celebrity press tours—that there’s definitely something lined up for Will’s relationship with Mike, and it’s looking pretty queer. In an interview with TVLine, show creators Matt and Ross Duffer explain that we’re “supposed to be asking those questions.” Matt claims that “this is where it gets tricky since we haven’t released the whole season yet,” and continues to express concern for people who might be jumping the gun on judging either way. “I just want people to watch the final two episodes.”
These vague responses come from everyone in the cast, on multiple interviews through different outlets. Shnapp himself explained to Variety, “I think that’s the beauty of it, that it’s just up to the audience’s interpretation, if it’s Will kind of just refusing to grow up and growing up slower than his friends, or if he is really gay.” In the same interview, Brown chimes in to say, “I think what’s really nice about Will’s character is that he’s just a human being going through his own personal demons and issues. So many kids out there don’t know, and that’s OK. That’s OK to not know. And that’s OK not to label things.”
And most obvious of all, there’s a promotional video from Netflix Mexico where Wolfhard joins cast members Winona Ryder, David Harbour and Caleb McLaughlin to discuss fan theories for the season. When there’s a theory mentioned that Will and Elle are in a relationship, Harbour is quick to shoot it down, saying, “If you’ve been watching the show, you should know that Will is not interested in Elle. He’s interested in someone else in the group.” I mean, can they make it any more obvious?
If he is gay, and he’s just having a hard time coming to terms with it internally, then that’s a necessary story to share in a media landscape that often negates the queer youth experience. For viewers who may be going through the same things as Will—not ready to share what’s going on internally because there’s a lot of confusion and fear—it’s important they know it is okay to not really understand what’s going on, as Brown pointed out. And in some sense there’s nothing particularly wrong with cast members not answering the question and wanting to leave it for viewers to see for themselves, if what they’re planning is truly worth it.
What’s concerning is that Will’s character development has been going at a snail’s pace over the last two seasons. It’s almost as if the biggest part of his personality right now is just his crush on Mike, or his being in the closet. He was integral to both Season 1 and Season 2 of Stranger Things as the boy who went missing, and then became the connection to the Upside Down. But since Season 3, his role has been minimal compared to his co-stars. Granted, there are over 16 characters in the series to focus on and it’s honestly impressive to pull off any character growth when you have so many. But why should Will’s only focus be his sexuality, or the questioning of it?
And even if the creators want to explore that beautiful space of figuring out your identity and struggling to tell your friend you’re gay and you have a crush on them, why keep the audience out of that journey?
Sure, Will may not be ready to share that with his friends, and that’s perfectly understandable. But the current framing of Will’s character implies that there’s a deep shame in needing time or space to figure out your stuff. It would’ve been awesome to see the paintings that Will has (probably dedicated to Mike) sooner, or have gotten more shots of him glancing at Mike lovingly while no one else notices. Anything to get the audience in on the secret, so that it doesn’t feel like some big to-do.
When Robin (Maya Hawke) was introduced to the cast last season, our queer little hearts exploded. The Duffer brothers proved that they know how to bring in a lesbian character with grace, and she quickly became a fan favorite.
Her relationship growth with Nancy (Natalia Dyer) this season? Hands down, one of the best of the series. But why does Robin get such balanced, beautiful character work while Will gets the short end of the stick? Sure, she’s older than Will and is probably in a different mental space regarding her sexuality. But Will has been in the series since the beginning, and his queerness didn’t really start to come out until recently, and now there’s a massive expectation set for how they’re going to handle it next.
The beauty of Robin’s character was how little of a deal it turned out to be that she was a lesbian, that her and Steve (Joe Keery) immediately went from maybe crushes to platonic besties. There’s a universal truth that no two queer experiences are ever the same, and it’s obvious that Will and Robin’s journeys to discovering themselves are completely different, but we got to see Robin’s in a way that feels like is being robbed from Will.
The seasons he was barely involved in the Upside Down could have given Will more introspective, more ways to let the audience know his secret so that we could be rooting for him as he finally gathers the strength to tell Mike about his feelings.
Obviously, we’ll hold our breath and wait to cast full judgment on this plot until we see those last two episodes this summer. But even if it’s as beautiful as the Duffer brothers are implying it is, there’s something unsavory we can’t shake about the approach to this plot. Here’s hoping Will finds some happiness, because the kid deserves it after all the stuff he and his friends have been going through all these years.
