Warning: This story contains spoilers for Stranger Things Season 5, Volume 2.
What you need to know
Noah Schnapp was very relieved.
In the final moments of Stranger Things Season 5, Volume 2, Will Byers makes a confession. He tells his family and friends that he is gay. It’s an emotional scene, and Schnapp, 21, says the show’s co-creators Matt and Ross Duffer “wrote it so perfectly” that she “cried reading it.”
“I was nervous,” Schnapp tells PEOPLE. “I thought, ‘How are they going to write this?’ But then I read it, and I cried as I read it, and I thought, ‘This is perfect.’ They did it. ” There is no memo. ”
He says it was “impressive” that they were able to keep the monologue true to both the character’s life and the character, who has struggled to come to terms with his sexuality since his identity was confirmed in season four.
“They said they visited their queer family and friends to help them understand the right way to do things,” she says of the Duffer brothers.
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When Schnapp received the script, he was concerned about how the scene would go after Will comes out and Will’s brother Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) and his friends, Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), Mike (Finn Wolfhard), and Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) all stand up and hug him.
“I would say I was a little nervous having everyone stand up individually and I thought, ‘Will that be weird?'” But in that moment, it all felt so real, so natural, and it worked out so well. ”
Schnapp was also pleased that Will’s big moment “wasn’t just a sob.”
“He was happy the whole time in the beginning and it felt like he was reliving a memory, which makes it even more shocking.
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The impetus for Will’s confession comes from a vision Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) shows Will that predicts that he will end up alone if he comes out to his friends. The prophecy “felt very real,” Will says in the scene, but his mother (Winona Ryder), brother, and friends reassure him that it will never leave him.
“I haven’t told anyone about this because I don’t want you guys to see me differently, but the truth is I’m different. I just pretended I wasn’t because I didn’t want to be. I wanted to be like everyone else. I wanted to be like your friends and I’m like you. I’m like you in almost every way,” Will says in an emotional scene. “We like milk duds in our popcorn with lots of butter. We like coke with pop rocks. We like bike racing and trading comics, NASA, Steve Martin, lucky charms, and literally all the same things. I just…I don’t like girls.”
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Will’s acceptance of who he is and his acceptance of himself helps him release his connection to Vecna and channel his powers to defeat the Demogorgon in the first volume. Schnapp is loving the development of his character in this final season.
“I think it was very beautifully done and I think it was very real. The first volume for him is like accepting his inner self, just saying to himself, this is real, this is who I am. And finally, when he says that and admits that, he’s able to tap into those powers,” the actor says.
“But saying that to yourself doesn’t mean telling everyone and living your whole truth. So in the second volume, we see him muster up the courage to live fully in his truth. And finally, by the end of episode seven, he accepts that, and now he’s finally ready to take down the villain once and for all.”
Provided by Netflix
The journey is “exactly how real life works,” Schnapp says. “You don’t suddenly accept yourself and tell everyone that. It’s a process of being accepted inside yourself and then being accepted outside. It was so beautifully written and to be able to perform it was really special.”
Schnapp, who came out as gay in 2023, also finds solace in Will’s own journey toward true self-acceptance. “I’ve always reflected a little bit on Will and my personal identity journey and how audiences have responded to him and accepted him over the years. Especially in Season 4, even though it was really obvious[that Will was gay]people still loved him so much. I thought, ‘Oh, if they love him so much, what am I hiding here?’
The fans’ support for Will “definitely affected” Schnapp, who said, “I can’t even imagine how much of an impact[this scene]has on other young kids who are struggling[with coming out]. That means so much to me.”
Stranger Things Season 5 Volumes 1 and 2 are currently streaming on Netflix. The final episode will take place on December 31st at 8pm ET.
