Stranger Things Star Gets Honest About Character's Sexuality

Contains spoilers for Stranger Things season 3

All took was eight words said in a moment of frustration for Stranger Things fans to begin speculating about Will Byers' sexuality. But for actor Noah Schnapp, his character's sexual orientation should be the least strange thing about Stranger Things. 

Throughout the third season of Stranger Things, Mike (Finn Wolfhard) and Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) were dealing with their fair share of girl troubles, wondering why their boyish behavior often upset their girlfriends Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) and Max (Sadie Sink). Things grew worse when Eleven and Max dumped the boys, leaving them to moan and complain in Mike's basement. Will tries desperately to pull his pals out of their funk, declaring a day free from girls and filled with Dungeons & Dragons, but it's no use. Mike and Lucas are too caught up in the pain of their breakups and purposely cut their D&D campaign short, which causes Will to storm off and ride his bike home in the rain. Trying to apologize but only getting halfway there, Mike ends up snapping at Will, saying, "It's not my fault you don't like girls."

Many took this line, plus the other harsh words the boys exchanged with one another, as indication that Will could be gay. 

Schnapp opened up to TheWrap about the scene and got honest about his character's sexuality. 

He explained that it's "really up to interpretation" whether Will is gay, or if the tension between him and his best buds is down to his fear of growing up and the trauma he experienced while stuck in the Upside Down during past seasons.  

"While all the characters were out developing and growing up, Will was in the Upside Down and he was alone there, not interacting with or connected to his friends or the rest of the world. And when he got back, he expected everything to just go back to how it was before, how it was when he was normal and when he was a kid and he wanted to go back to the basement and play D&D," said Schnapp. "All his friends have girlfriends and they're out dating, and he just wants to have fun with his friends. You see in episode 3, he just wants to play D&D in the basement, and now all of his friends have girlfriends and they are dating. And it's kind of, when you hear Mike say that line, it's really up to the audience to interpret it."

From Schnapp's perspective, he feels that Will just isn't focused on romance and relationships of any kind right now, and that's why Mike said what he said. 

"I kind of just interpret it like he's not ready to grow up and he doesn't really want to move on to dating and relationships yet. He still wants to be a kid and play in the basement like he did in old times," the actor shared. 

Regardless of whether that scene out in the pouring rain was a hint at Will's sexuality or simply a moment between two best friends who had drifted apart, it was an important one in Will's season 3 arc. Will wound up racing off to Castle Byers — the makeshift fort in the woods that he, Lucas, Mike, and Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) would play in when they were younger — and destroying it after his heated conversation with Mike. Schnapp said the experience was "very emotional" and left him "crying a lot" the night of filming. 

Will and Mike (and Lucas, too) eventually set aside their differences and forgave one another, as they had bigger fish to fry later on in the season when the grotesque new version of the Mind Flayer (made from the melted-down bodies of hundreds of Hawkins residents) crashed through Starcourt Mall and threatened to kill everyone in sight. The mission to defeat the Mind Flayer was successful, the gate got closed, the Russians' machine beneath the Mall was destroyed, and the door was left open for a fourth season of Stranger Things to happen. 

Though Schnapp told TheWrap that he doesn't know anything about a potential season 4 and isn't sure what to expect, series creators Matt and Ross Duffer have mentioned that it would "feel very different" to season 3. Whether the possible upcoming season will address Will's sexuality, much like season 3 revealed that Maya Hawke's character Robin didn't fancy Steve Harrington (Joe Keery) but was after the girls who were crushing on him, remains a mystery. If nothing else, hopefully the potential fourth season of Stranger Things will see Will the Wise finally complete his Dungeons & Dragons campaign without any interruptions.