This article contains spoilers for the fourth season of Stranger Things.
Stranger Things star Noah Schnapp has spoken out about his character’s sexuality.
Noah has portrayed Will Byers in all four seasons of the hit Netfix sci-fi drama, with fans of the show speculating in recent years that the character could be gay.
While the 17-year-old has long avoided sharing his personal take on his character’s sexualty, in a fresh interview with Variety, he admitted that he agreed with viewers’ long-held theories about Will.
“It’s pretty clear this season that Will has feelings for Mike,” Noah said. “They’ve been intentionally pulling that out over the past few seasons.
“Even in season one, they hinted at that and slowly, slowly grew that storyline. I think for season four, it was just me playing this character who loves his best friend but struggles with knowing if he’ll be accepted or not, and feeling like a mistake and like he doesn’t belong. Will has always felt like that.”
He continued: “All his friends, they all have girlfriends and they all fit into their different clubs. Will has never really found anywhere to fit in. I think that’s why so many people come up to me and tell me that they love Will and they resonate with him so much, because it’s such a real character.”
Earlier this year, before the second half of season four debuted on Netflix, Noah told Variety that Will’s sexuality was “up to the audience’s interpretation”.
Asked about these comments in his latest interview with the US outlet, Noah admitted he made them to try and avoid spoilers for the then-upcoming batch of episodes.
He added: “It was always kind of there, but you never really knew, is it just him growing up slower than his friends?
“Now that he’s gotten older, they made it a very real, obvious thing. Now it’s 100% clear that he is gay and he does love Mike.”
All four seasons of Stranger Things are now available to watch on Netflix.