Noah Schnapp recently revealed that much like his character, Will Byers, onStranger Things, he is openly gay. Schnapp decided to confirm his sexual orientation on his own personal social media account.
While coming out of the closet, Schnapp revealed his sexual orientation more like it was a fun fact more than anything else. According to theStranger Thingsstar, when he decided to come out, his friends and family were supportive of his homosexuality, and they also claimed that they knew who he was before he came out.
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In the TikTok in which Schnapp revealed that he was gay, he posted the following caption in 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.'” In the video itself, Schnapp mouthed the dialogue, “You know what it never was? That serious. It was never that serious. Quite frankly, will never be that serious," to imply that being gay was never a big issue for Schnapp. In the caption below the TikTok, Schnapp said, “I guess I’m more similar to Will than I thought.”
Schnapp has played Byers onStranger Thingssince 2016. Byers' arc in the show’s first two seasons revolved around his time in the Upside Down.InStranger Thingsseason 4, Byers' arc has been more or less about him growing up and coming to terms with his sexuality. The third season gave subtle hints that he was gay and that he may have had romantic feelings for his best friend, Mike Wheeler, while the fourth season made it pretty clear that both notions were true without being too explicit. Not only that, but the fourth season also delved into the anguish that Byers had to go through, knowing that his feelings for his best friend were not and would never be mutual.
Byers' struggles in the show’s fourth season made for one of the best storylines of what fans considereda return-to-form season forStranger Things. Viewers couldn’t help but feel sorry for Will because it was clear that he was in love with his best friend, but he knew that he would never have those feelings reciprocated since Mike was in a relationship with Eleven. Will’s awareness of the situation tore him up because he knew he couldn’t get what he wants and couldn’t be open about it. The one comfort he had was knowing his brother Jonathan was aware of Will’s feelings and told him that he accepted Will for who he was.
In Schnapp’s case, his willingness to come out is another example of how much progress society has made in accepting homosexuality. In previous decades, being gay in Hollywood was considered taboo enough to lose your career, but Ellen DeGeneres and Lance Bass, among others, coming out to the public over the past few decades have opened the door for more people to be more open about being gay without fear of any backlash. The fact that Schnapp can not only come out of the closet but also act like it was never a big deal for him is a great sign of how accepting people have become of gays over the last decade or so.
