Stranger Issues: Is Will Byers Homosexual?

When the primary quantity of “Stranger Issues” season 4 hit Netflix on Could 28, followers had some main questions on what was happening with Will Byers (Noah Schnapp). When Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard) heads west to go to Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) and Will, it appears to some just like the latter is harboring a significant crush on his longtime buddy. Will’s sexuality is one thing the present has talked about however by no means immediately addressed for years. Again in season one, Joyce (Winona Ryder) tells Hopper (David Harbour) that Will’s dad used to name him “queer.”

However some followers have been upset that the present appeared content material to maintain Will’s sexuality ambiguous, as an alternative of letting the character come out totally. After the primary batch of season 4 episodes aired, the present’s creators, the Duffer brothers, spoke in regards to the potential plot line and promised it will be addressed within the ultimate two episodes.

“You are presupposed to be asking these questions,” Matt Duffer advised TVLine on June 2 about fan hypothesis.

However the brothers did not wish to verify if Will is homosexual or not. “That is the place it will get tough since we have not launched the entire season but,” Matt mentioned to the outlet. “I simply need individuals to observe the ultimate two episodes,” however in keeping with TVLine, he promised readability would are available them.

“We now have story arcs and we’ve character arcs,” Ross Duffer advised TVLine. “How we structured [the season], we have launched the primary two acts of this story. The ultimate act, which is the final two episodes, resolves a whole lot of issues, each character and story, after which a few of additionally it is establishing for our ultimate season.”

These ultimate two episodes, which have been launched on Netflix on July 1, did handle the plot line, although not in an specific manner. In episode eight, Will and Mike are within the backseat of the pizza van, discussing Eleven on their approach to attempt to rescue her. Mike says, “However what if in any case that is over, she would not want me anymore?” Will comforts Mike and launches right into a monologue about Eleven.

“These previous few months, she’s been so misplaced with out you. It is simply, she’s so totally different from different individuals, and once you’re totally different, generally, you’re feeling like a mistake,” he says.

“However you make her really feel like she’s not a mistake in any respect. Like she’s higher for being totally different and that offers her the braveness to combat on,” he continues. “If she was imply to you or she appeared like she was pushing you away, it is in all probability as a result of she’s fearful of dropping you, such as you’re fearful of dropping her.”

Will says, rising visibly emotional, “And if she was going to lose you, I believe she’d relatively simply get it fast, like ripping off a Band-Support. . . . El wants you Mike and she or he at all times will.”

As soon as Mike is comforted, Will seems to be out the window and cries, and it appears clear that he is speaking not nearly Eleven, however about his personal emotions for Mike. The one one who notices that Will is upset, although, is his brother Jonathan (Charlie Heaton).

In episode 9, Jonathan apologizes to Will for not being there for him over the previous 12 months. He kind of addresses the state of affairs within the automobile, saying, “I will at all times be right here it doesn’t matter what since you’re my brother and I really like you. And there’s nothing on this world, okay, completely nothing, that can ever change that.” Will tears up at that, too.

If Will is, actually, homosexual, or has a crush on Mike, the present by no means comes out and explicitly says it in season 4. It is totally different from the way in which the collection dealt with Robin (Maya Hawke) in season three, when she immediately got here out to Steve (Joe Keery) as a lesbian.

For his half, Schnapp had his personal reply when requested in regards to the topic. He advised Variety in Could of the Duffer brothers’ scripts, “I really feel like they by no means actually handle it or blatantly say how Will is.”

He continued, “I believe that is the great thing about it, that it is simply as much as the viewers’s interpretation. If it is Will type of simply refusing to develop up and rising up slower than his associates, or if he’s actually homosexual.”

Brown added, “Can I simply say, it is 2022 and we do not have to label issues. I believe what’s very nice about Will’s character is that he is only a human being going by his personal private demons and points. So many youngsters on the market do not know, and that is OK. That is OK to not know. And that is OK to not label issues.”

Schnapp mentioned, “I discover that individuals do attain to place a label on him and simply wish to know, so badly, like, ‘Oh, and that is it.’ He is simply confused and rising up. And that is what it’s to be a child.”