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Will’s sexuality is ambiguous.
[Editor’s note: this post contains spoilers for the first part of Netflix’s Stranger Things season four.]
Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) has been one of the most important characters on Stranger Things since the very beginning of the series.
Will is the son of Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder) and a brother to Jonathan Byers (Charlie Heaton), and in season one, Will’s disappearance was the driving plot of the entire show, prompting every single other character to search for him and hope for that he was still alive.
Will became a little less of the focal point of Stranger Things as the seasons went on, but he always stuck around as one of the key characters in the series. By season three, a new – and somewhat unexpected – storyline started to be hinted at for Will, leading fans to ask: Is Will queer?
With Stranger Things season four, Volume 2 hitting Netflix this Friday it's the perfect time to look back at all the evidence and moments that have led fans to wonder if Will might be a part of the LGTBQ+ community.
Will’s Father Called Him “Queer”
During the first season of Stranger Things, Joyce tells Jim Hopper (David Harbour) that her ex-husband, Lonnie Byers (Ross Partridge) used to call Will “queer” when he was younger. She says, “Lonnie used to say he was queer. Called him a f*g.” When Hopper asks if Will is that, Joyce deflects to the more important matter at hand: “He’s missing, is what he is.”
Though it is clear in this scene that Joyce is criticizing how her ex-husband used to treat Will when he was younger, it is interesting that she still thinks about these moments – and labels – but then deflects from talking about it further when Hopper asks a follow-up question.
Mike Tells Will He Doesn’t Like Girls
Much of season three is about the Stranger Things kids growing up, becoming teenagers, and identifying their love interests. Except one person, Will, stands out as the only character who not only isn’t interested in finding love but is also actively angry at his friends who are developing feelings for certain girls. This leads to Will getting upset at Mike for not wanting to play more Dungeons & Dragons like they did when they were younger. Mike then angrily tells Will, “It’s not my fault you don’t like girls!”
Alas, just like Joyce’s comment in season one, it isn’t clear in season three that Will is actually potentially LGBTQ+. In season one, it felt like Joyce was just angry at her ex-husband for making Will feel different from other kids. In season three, it seemed like Will was just not growing up as quickly as everyone else and simply didn’t have a girlfriend yet.
Will Does a Project About Alan Turing
The more recent suspicions that Will might not be straight started in season four when he did a school project about Alan Turing. Out of all the people he could’ve admired to do this project on, it felt like a very direct nod from the writers to have Will’s project be about a gay scientist who wasn’t able to come out of the closet during his time.
Will Struggles to Talk About Feelings
During season four, there’s a clash between Mike and Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) when he finds out that she’s been lying about her new life after moving out of Hawkins. Even though it seems like Will is almost “happy” about Mike having a rift with Eleven so that he can spend more time with his best friend, Will does ultimately acknowledge that it can be hard to talk about your feelings sometimes.
This is another moment on Stranger Things that could be interpreted as “nothing to see here,” but it feels like a very intentional line that Will was given by the writers as they set up the character’s sexuality even further.
The Duffer Brothers Hint at Will’s Sexuality
One final but very important reason why fans are thinking that Will is not straight comes from an interview from the Duffer Brothers with TV Line.
When the publication brought up the fact that many fans are questioning Will’s sexuality on the show, the Duffer Brothers said: “You’re supposed to be asking those questions.” They added, “We have story arcs and we have character arcs. How we structured [season four], we’ve released the first two acts of this story. The final act, which is the last two episodes, resolves a lot of things, both character and story, and then some of it is also setting up for our final season.” This being their response to whether or not Will is a part of the LGBTQ+ community seems to heavily indicate that the character might, indeed, not be straight.
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