Meanwhile, Noah Schnapp, who plays Will on the Netflix series, says it's 'up to the audience's interpretation, if it's Will kind of just refusing to grow…, or if he is really gay.'
- May 31, 2022
AceShowbiz - "Stranger Things" stars have addressed speculation about Will's sexuality that has been swirling since the third season. The fan theory that Will could be gay only intensified following the release of its season 4.
Now, some stars of the hit Netflix series have weighed in on the speculation. Noah Schnapp, who plays Will, was coy as he told Variety in an interview, "I feel like they never really address it or blatantly how Will is. 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."
Millie Bobby Brown was more straight in refusing to confirm or deny the gay speculation. "Can I just say, it's 2022 and we don't have to label things," she shared her thoughts. "I think what's really nice about Will's character is that he's just a human being going through his own personal demons and issues. So many kids out there don't know, and that's OK. That's OK to not know. And that's OK not to label things."
Schnapp agreed as saying, "I find that people do reach to put a label on him and just want to know, so badly, like, 'Oh, and this is it.' " He went on sharing his own theory, "He's just confused and growing up. And that's what it is to be a kid."
"Will is kind of like a zebra in a field of horses," Schnapp added. "He kind of stands out. It's just nice to see that and have that shown on 'Stranger Things' for fans to connect to and be able to relate to. Because so many of our viewers are young kids who are at that stage in their life."
The gay speculation first arose after season 3, in which Will and Mike (Finn Wolfhard) fought about their friendship and Eleven (Brown). In the said scene, Mike shouted, "It's not my fault you don't like girls!" at Will.
The speculation only intensified after Will chooses gay mathematician Alan Turing as a hero he looks up to in his presentation in the first episode of season 4. Later, in the fourth episode, Mike confides in Will that he wishes he'd expressed his feelings for Eleven more plainly to her.
Will then shares advice to his friend about working up the courage to tell the truth, which could apply to his own situation. "Sometimes I think it's just scary to open up like that - to say how you really feel, especially to people you care about the most," Will says to Mike. "Because what if - what if they don't like the truth?"
Executive producer Shawn Levy appeared to support Schnapp's theory that Mike was referring to them being at different stages of pubescent development. "It's not specific to sexual orientation or anything," he told EW. He, however, admitted that the statement could lead to different interpretations as he noted, "Ever since then, a lot of these questions have come up."
Vol. 1 of "Stranger Things" season 4, which ends with episode 7, is currently streaming on Netflix, while Vol. 2, which contains the final two episodes, will debut on July 1.
