Noah Schnapp appreciation post: both for his performance as Will and bold declaration of self

Stranger Things’ Noah Schnapp (Will Byers) just came out as gay via a TikTok post on Thursday, writing “I guess I’m more similar to [Will] than I thought,” in the caption, referencing his tormented character on Stranger Things. Over the past four seasons, we’ve watched Will Byers grapple with his sexuality and feelings for his friend Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard), most markedly in the last season.

The 18-year-old actor is living his life on his own terms as an adult.

He’s also turned in one of the best performances of last year, in the fourth season of Stranger Things. Will’s sexual orientation had been speculated about for years now, with Schnapp saying that it was “up to the audience’s interpretation” in a Variety interview with his co-star Millie Brown around the time that Vol. 1 of Season 4 was released on Netflix. But the truth of it came to the forefront in the last season, with the character wrestling to convey his feelings towards Mike.

Will’s inner turmoil during season 4 of Stranger Things was one of the most compelling character developments of the series, with Noah Schnapp turning in a beautifully meticulous performance that sadly the Golden Globes didn’t recognize (in fact, Stranger Things didn’t get any nominations this year.) His sensitive poignancy has always been the emotional core of the series, but Schnapp took Will to greater depths in the last season.

His story arc also resulted in a deeper bond between him and his brother, Jonathon, (Charlie Heaton), with their empathetic relationship culminating in one of the most emotionally satisfying scenes in all four seasons of the extremely popular series.

"“Obviously, it was hinted at in season 1,” Schnapp additionally told Variety back in July. “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.”"

The acceptance and understanding from Jonathon were one of the highlights during an emotionally difficult season for Schnapp’s Will.

Season five of Stranger Things has already been greenlit and it will be fascinating to see how his character deals with this in what will be the Netflix series’ final chapter.