Stranger Things’ Noah Schnapp Addresses Will Byers’ Sexuality

Will Byers is keeping his sexuality private—even from the actor who plays him, Noah Schnapp.

Following the season four premiere of Stranger Things, fans questioned whether the teen character is LGBTQ+ after he chose gay mathematician Alan Turing as his hero for a school presentation. Additionally, Will makes cryptic remarks about being scared to “open up” to a close friend out of fears they will reject you. 

Despite these apparent signs, Schnapp is hesitant to put a label on Will’s sexuality. He tells Variety that he’s leaving that decision up to the writers, led by creators Matt and Ross Duffer, saying, “I feel like they never really address it or blatantly say how Will is.”

He continues, “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.”