Stranger Things star Noah Schnapp comes out as gay

Noah Schnapp, who plays teenager Will Byers on Netflix’s Stranger Things, has come out as gay.

In a video posted to his TikTok account on Thursday, the 18-year-old actor wrote in the text on the video, “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'” — over Schnapp lip-syncing to a TikTok sound saying, “You know what it never was? That serious. It was never that serious. Quite frankly, will never be that serious.”

In the caption to his TikTok video, Schnapp wrote, “I guess I’m more similar to Will than I thought.”

@noahschnappI guess I’m more similar to will than I thought

♬ original sound - princessazula0

In July, following the debut of the final two episodes of the fourth season of Stranger Things, Schnapp confirmed to Variety that Will Byers is gay and in love with his best friend Mike (Finn Wolfhard).

“It was always kind of there, but you never really knew, is it just him growing up slower than his friends?” Schnapp said. “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.”

The show has faced criticism over its handling of Will Byers, as many have taken issue with the show not definitively having Will come out on screen. Just this week, Schnapp addressed his character's sexuality by promising fans they will get necessary closure in the Netflix series' fifth and final season.

"I can just tell you that I'm very very excited for what's to come," he told Forbes. Will’s sexuality had been an open question since the first episode of the show. In July 2022, Schnapp said he wasn’t 100% sure what Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer had in mind for Will, and once he did, he didn’t want to spoil the journey.

“I think it is done so beautifully, because it’s so easy to make a character just like all of a sudden be gay,” Schnapp said. “People have come up to me — I was just in Paris and this, like, 40-year-old man came up to me and he was like, ‘Wow, this Will character made me feel so good. And I related to it so much. That is exactly who I was when I was a kid.’ That just made me so happy to hear. They are writing this real character and this real journey and real struggle and they’re doing it so well.”

Season 5 of Stranger Things will conclude the show, but there is no confirmation yet when production will begin on the season or when it will debut.