Millie Bobby Brown Says ‘We Don’t Have to Label’ Will’s Sexuality as Gay in ‘Stranger Things’ 4
In the first season of Stranger Things, a Demogorgon took Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) into the Upside Down. Spending time in another dimension certainly changed the kid, but his sexual preferences have nothing to do with that experience. From the beginning, fans have theorized that Will is gay. Whether he is or isn’t remains unimportant, at least for Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown.
‘Stranger Things’ fans question if Will Byers is gay
Stranger Things has hinted that Will might be gay in many ways. In the season 3 episode “The Case of the Missing Life Guard,” Will pleads with his friends to stop obsessing over girls. Instead, he wants them to focus on Dungeons & Dragons.
Will explains his frustrations to Mike (Finn Wolfhard), who would rather “swap spit with some stupid girl.” Mike retaliates: “El’s not stupid.”
He continues: “It’s not my fault you don’t like girls.” Then, Will’s facial expressions change. Many fans think this suggests his friends might know more about his sexual orientation than he does.
‘Stranger Things’ Season 4 furthers the theory Will is gay
In the first episode of Stranger Things Season 4, Will and Eleven (Brown) give presentations on a hero they admire. Eleven chooses her dad, Hopper (David Harbour), while Will chooses Alan Turing, the gay mathematician who was prosecuted in the 1950s for his sexuality and forced to undergo chemical castration.
Additionally, Will physically recoils from a girl who shows interest in him in the episode. In episode 2, when Mike visits from Hawkins, Will seems distraught over Mike’s indifference to seeing him. For many fans, all of these signs signal that Will is gay.
Millie Bobby Brown says Will Byers demonstrates that it’s ‘OK not to label things’
In an interview with Variety, Schnapp and Brown spoke to Will’s sexuality in Stranger Things. “I feel like they never really address it or blatantly say how Will is,” Schnapp told the outlet, adding:
“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.”
Noah Schnapp, Variety
Brown added: “Can I just say, it’s 2022 and we don’t have to label things. 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.”
Will Byers is ‘confused and growing up’ according to Noah Schnapp
In that same interview with Variety, Schnapp added: “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’s just confused and growing up. And that’s what it is to be a kid.”
In a previous interview with The Wrap, a 14-year-old Schnapp said Will’s sexuality is “really up to interpretation.” At the time, he blamed Will’s experience in the Upside Down for a lack of “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,” the actor said. “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.”
David Harbour confirms Will is ‘interested in someone else in the group’
In a promotional video for Netflix Mexico on Instagram, Harbour debunked one fan theory that says Will and Eleven are in a secret relationship in California and trying to hide it from Mike. “If you’ve been watching the show, you should know that Will is not interested in El,” Harbour said.
“He’s interested in someone else in the group. Will wants to be in the basement with Mike playing D&D for the rest of his life.”
David Harbour, Netflix Mexico
Form your own opinion of Will’s sexuality. Watch Stranger Things on Netflix.
