Noah Schnapp, the 21-year-old Stranger Things actor known for playing Will Byers, has shared a photo of his new boyfriend on Instagram Stories. The image captures the pair from behind on a rooftop, gazing at the city skyline. Schnapp overlaid the text: ‘One month of us’ with a red heart emoji.
New Relationship Milestone
This announcement comes more than three years after Schnapp came out as gay in January 2023. He shared a TikTok video at the time, captioning it: ‘When I finally told my friends and family I was gay after being scared in the closet for 18 years and all they said was “we know.”‘ In the video, he lip-synced to a voice saying: ‘You know it never was that serious, it was never that serious, quite frankly we will never be that serious.’ He added: ‘I guess I’m more similar to Will Byers than I thought!’
Will Byers’ Arc in Stranger Things
Schnapp confirmed in 2022 that his character Will Byers is gay and harbors feelings for his best friend Mike Wheeler. He explained: ‘Obviously, it was hinted at in Season 1: 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. But before, it was a slow arc.’
Schnapp praised the portrayal: ‘It had been done so beautifully, because it’s so easy to make a character just all of a sudden be gay.’
Final Season Coming-Out Scene
In the fifth and final season of Stranger Things, released late last year, Will Byers officially comes out in a scene from the episode ‘The Bridge.’ Some viewers called it ‘woke’ and out of place, but Schnapp defended it. He stated the script was ‘perfect’ and ‘no part of that scene felt forced or produced.’
Schnapp described preparing for the scene: ‘Part of that was how much I spent preparing, and part of that was my cast and how gracious they were.’ Watching it back proved emotional: ‘But watching it back onscreen and getting to see everyone’s reactions was really sweet and emotional for me.’
Reading the scene with castmates lifted a weight: ‘It was a little bit of a weight off my chest.’ He drew from personal experience: ‘I reread a lot of coming-out texts that I had sent when I was going through it myself, and scrolled in my camera roll, looking through pictures at that time of my life when I was coming to terms with that.’ Filming at night was challenging: ‘But trying to stay in it was hard, and it was the middle of the night too, so it was exhausting.’
Support from Cast and Personal Growth
Schnapp shared how he told co-star Millie Bobby Brown: ‘I kept trying to do it in person with her, and it was too hard. So then I just FaceTimed her one day in the middle of a Party City and I was like, “Millie, I’m gay.” And she was like, “Oh, Schnapper! You told me finally!”‘
Playing Will accelerated his own acceptance: ‘Once I did fully embrace that Will was gay, it was just an exponential speed towards accepting it for myself. I would be in a completely different place if I didn’t have Will to portray, and to embrace and help me accept myself. I think if I never played that character, I probably would still be closeted.’
Reflecting on Stranger Things Finale
A main cast member since 2016, Schnapp reflected on wrapping the series: ‘I will never forget that last day and how that last scene felt – it was just so surreal. The goodbye was hard. I grappled with this feeling like my life is over and I’m in a crisis, this is my whole identity and all I’ve ever known, and now it’s ending.’
He feels complete with Will: ‘I think my work is done with that character. The story for him has been told.’ Looking ahead, he eyes theater and films: ‘I’d love to do theater. I loved doing that as a kid and want to explore that. And do other films. But no set path, I’m just excited for what’s next.’ He added he’d love to collaborate again with creators the Duffer Brothers on a new project.
