Sometimes, art imitates life in a profound way. In a recent Variety cover story, Stranger Things star Noah Schnapp said he believed that he “would still be closeted” if he had never played Will Byers on the smash-hit Netflix series.
Schnapp has played introverted Will Byers since 2016, when he was just 11 years old. From the onset of the series, there were indications that the character of Will might be gay, with Winona Ryder’s Joyce Byers revealing in season one that his absentee father had called him an antigay slur. At that point, Schnapp “didn’t really think twice about” Will’s sexuality. “I was so young; I barely even knew what that word meant,” he told Variety. "And I don’t even think I knew myself that I was gay.”
Over the course of the series, Will starts to come to terms with his sexuality. In a pivotal moment in season three, Will’s best friend, Mike (Finn Wolfhard), says to him, “It’s not my fault that you don’t like girls,” and Will’s major storyline in season four follows his unrequited crush on Mike. In a 2022 Variety interview, Schnapp confirmed that the character of Will Byers was gay—a step that was met with overwhelming support from Stranger Things fans, and was instrumental in helping Schnapp understand his own sexuality.
“Once I did fully embrace that Will was gay, it was just an exponential speed towards accepting it for myself,” said Schnapp. “I would be in a completely different place if I didn’t have Will to portray, and to embrace and help me accept myself. I think if I never played that character, I probably would still be closeted.”
Eventually, Schnapp found the courage to come out—first to his twin sister, Chloe, and later to his close family and friends, including his Stranger Things costar Millie Bobby Brown. “I kept trying to do it in person with her, and it was too hard,” he said. “So then I just FaceTimed her one day in the middle of a Party City and I was like, ‘Millie, I’m gay.’ And she was like, ‘Oh, Schnapper! You told me finally!’”
Next, it was time to tell the world. Schnapp came out to the public via an eight-second viral TikTok that he shared with his millions of followers. Schnapp said that after posting the TikTok, which has received more than 14 million likes, he received a flood of messages from friends, family, and fans congratulating him on coming out. "When I opened my phone at the end of the car ride, it was, like, a thousand texts of hearts and congratulations and rainbow flags,” Schnapp told Variety. “I was crying. I was like, ‘I made it. I’m done. I don’t have to worry.’”
Schnapp will reprise his role for the fifth and final season of Stranger Things. Filming was set to begin this summer, but was placed on hold due to the writers strike. But according to Stranger Things cocreator Ross Duffer, Schnapp’s character “really takes center stage again in five.” “This emotional arc for him is what we feel is going to hopefully tie the whole series together,” Duffer told Variety. “Will is used to being the young one, the introverted one, the one that’s being protected. So part of his journey, it’s not just sexuality—it’s Will coming into his own as a young man.”
This article original appeared on Vanity Fair.
