Noah Schnapp credits Stranger Things for helping him come out.
In an interview with Variety, the actor, who plays Will Byers on the Netflix series, explained that once he fully embraced that Will is 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.”
Schnapp also revealed that before he publicly came out on TikTok, he told his co-star Millie Bobby Brown that he was gay — in the middle of a Party City. “I kept trying to do it in person with her, and it was too hard,” he said. “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!’”
Stranger Things is currently on pause due to studio executives not paying writers and performs what they’re worth, but once the strikes are resolved, Will will be “center stage” in the final season, co-creator Ross Duffer explained. “This emotional arc for him is what we feel is going to hopefully tie the whole series together. Will is used to being the young one, the introverted one, the one that’s being protected. So part of his journey, it’s not just sexuality — it’s Will coming into his own as a young man.”
(Via Variety)