Noah Schnapp, who plays Will Byers on Netflix’s global sensation Stranger Things, has come out as gay.
Noah Schnapp has come out as gay — “I guess I’m more similar to Will than I thought.” pic.twitter.com/Ukqpem9but
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) January 5, 2023
On Thursday, the 18-year-old actor took to TikTok to inform his fans while stating that friends and family were supportive. Schnapp wrote, “When I finally told my friends and family I was gay after being scared in the closet for 18 years, all they said was “we know.” The video was also captioned, “I guess I’m more similar to Will than I thought,” a reference to the season 4 confirmation that his Stranger Things character, Will Byers, is gay. This was disclosed through a heartbreaking storyline between Will and Mike (Finn Wolfhard).
Prior to his own coming out, Schnapps addressed his TV characters’ sexuality, stating“It was always kind of there, but you never really knew. Is it just him growing up slower than his friends?” Schnapps further said: “They made it a very real, obvious thing now that he’s gotten older.””Now it’s 100% clear that he is gay and he does love Mike.”
He also praised the series’ directors for their handling of Will’s sexual preference reveal.“I think it is done so beautifully because it’s so easy to make a character just all of a sudden be gay,” Schnapp said. “People have come up to me. I was just in Paris, and this, like, 40-year-old man came up to me, and he was like, “Wow, this Will character made me feel so good.” and I related to it so much. That is exactly who I was when I was a kid. That made me very happy to hear. They are writing this real character and this real journey and struggle, and they’re doing it so well.
Noah Schnapp will reprise his role as Will in the upcoming final season of Stranger Things, which will see the gang have one final showdown to save Hawkins and the world.