Warning: spoilers ahead Stranger Things Season 5 Vol. 2.
It was a period of growth for Will in Stranger Things, and it fifth and final season forces him to step out of his comfort zone.
Episode 7, titled “The Bridge”, features an emotional monologue when Noah Schnapp's character Will tells his family and friends. While the team plans a fight against Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower), Will decides to tell those closest to him that he doesn't like girls.
Sitting and looking at his best friend Mike (played by Finn Wolfhard), his mother Joyce (Winona Ryder), his brother Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) and many others, Will is the most vulnerable person. After he came out as gay, his friends and family proudly supported him and said they would always be there for him.
The moment, Schnapp told TODAY.com, was “nerve-wracking.”
“It was a lot of pressure. The whole cast was there, and I didn't expect the scene to happen that way. I thought it would just be me and Joyce, and it was already getting on my nerves,” says Schnapp. “So having everyone stand around and watch was really nerve-wracking in a lot of ways.”
Schnapp said that in 2022, after the release of the fourth season, Diversity What Will was in love with Mike.
“I mean, it's very clear this season that Will has feelings for Mike,” he said at the time. “They've been deliberately taking that away for the last few seasons. Even in the first season, they were hinting at it and slowly, slowly developing that storyline.”
“It's 100% clear now that he's gay and he loves Mike,” he added.
In season five, Will was curious to share his feelings with friends and family after he saw Robin (Maya Hawke) kiss his girlfriend Vicki (Amybeth McNulty). In recent episodes, Will appears to be turning to Robin for advice on how to deal with his true feelings.
“There was so much buildup to this moment,” Schnapp told TODAY.com of Will's exit. “It's been building in my head for years, like, how are they going to write this? Who are they going to write this to? Obviously, deep down, you know the impact this is going to have on a lot of people in the real world who are struggling with similar identity issues.”
“So you just want everything to be as perfect as possible, and that comes with a lot of pressure,” he adds.
Schnapp says he was able to provide some input and feedback show creators Ross and Matt Dufferand its authors.
“I definitely had some input that allowed new scenes to form. But for the most part, it was perfect,” he shares, before touching on who he considers Will's biggest supporter.
“Probably Jonathan,” he says, referring to his character’s older brother. “He's been there from the beginning and he's always been there for him. You always see how he understands him and resonates with him. He never goes against him. He always wants the best for his brother.”
“I love their relationship,” Schnapp adds, “and I love seeing how (Jonathan) reacts to it… When I saw his reaction, it probably got me (emotionally) emotional.”
As for what's next for Will in the episode eight finale, “The Right Side,” Schnapp says, “There's nothing holding him back anymore.”
“You can clearly tell that he has now been able to make the most of his powers because he has come to terms with his own acceptance and accepted himself outwardly,” Schnapp says. “I'm just glad to see the role he plays in this… His own strength is the strength that we all have, the strength of self-acceptance and self-belief.”
Now that Will has become a major player in the battle against Vecna, the Duffer brothers told TODAY.com that his superpowers were something they had talked about in previous seasons.
“We've known he had this connection since Season 1, with Upside Down, and finally with Vecna,” says Matt Duffer, adding that the connection is “worth exploring.” “We touched on it a little bit in seasons three and four, but when we got to the final season, we started talking about it a lot and ended up talking about Will, because it all started with Will, right?”
After his disappearance in the first season that kicked off the series, they say, “It felt very organic and, in some ways, inevitable to come back to Will and orient the season around him.”
So after the final episode, when the credits roll, how does Schnapp hope fans feel?
“I just want them to be satisfied and say, 'OK, these stories are finished,'” he says. “And of course they will miss the characters and miss interacting with them, but I want them to be satisfied that these journeys have come to an end.”
Stranger Things Season 5 Vol. 3 will be released on New Year's Eve, December 31st at 5:00 pm PT/8:00 pm ET on Netflix.
