Will Byers’ Ambiguous Sexuality is Not Queerbaiting
Spoiler warnings for the fourth season
It’s been a couple of weeks now since Netflix dropped Volume Two of Stranger Things’ fourth season and left us all dissecting every scene and concocting fan theories. Will the gang be able to revive Max from her coma? What’s going on with the Nancy-Jonathan-Steve love triangle? Will Eddie Munson come back from the dead as a vampire (please let this one be true)?
But one scene that has really captured mine and others’ attention is Will’s emotional conversation with Mike in the penultimate episode of the season. Many viewers (including myself) saw this speech as a love confession to his best friend. Will’s sexuality has been hotly debated since the first season, but it seems we’ve finally gotten a confirmation thanks to an interview actor Noah Schnapp had with Variety: Will Byers is gay.
However, despite Schnapp’s assertions, the show itself has never actually confirmed Will’s sexuality. There have been hints: being called anti-LGTBQ+ slurs by his father and school bullies, Mike’s declaration that, “It’s not [his] fault [Will] doesn’t like girls,” and his poignant conversation with his older brother, Jonathan, who told him that he would love him no matter what. Despite all this, nothing explicit has ever been said, leading some viewers to…
