Stranger things gay character

This season, we read the first six episodes together, and I was like “OK, it didn’t happen yet, so it’s going to be in Episode 7 or 8,” which hadn’t been written yet. In response, Will tells Joyce and then Mike that he has something he needs to share, not just with the two of them but with everyone.

The Upside Down is technically a wormhole, serving as an interdimensional bridge that connects Hawkins (world #1) to the Abyss (world #2) and "held together by exotic matter," according to Dustin.

The Abyss is the real home of Demogorgons, the Mind Flayer, and the other terrors that have been connected to the Upside Down since season 1.

It was perfect.

Did you get the opportunity to workshop the script with the Duffers or with Shawn Levy, who directed “The Bridge” with the Duffers? The final scene of "The Bridge" shows Murray successfully getting the group through the rift into the Upside Down, and the final episode will likely pick up right from there.

Those who enter the Upside Down will now need to split up to carry out different aspects of the mission.

It was nice to get to work with them and they were so cute.

I was worried that I might need to, but honestly, it was perfect. The performance is further accented by Schapp’s real-world relationship to the topic, having publicly come out as gay in 2023.

Variety spoke with Schnapp to unpack the distinguished scene, how he shaped it with series creators Matt and Ross Duffer and director Shawn Levy and his feelings about closing the book on his decade-plus role in “Stranger Things.”

At what point did you find out that Will was going to come out in Season 5, Episode 7?

Will sees a kindred spirit in her to gather up the courage to be who he is meant to be.

The conclusion of "Sorcerer" notably revealed Will's Vecna powers and his hive mind connection, but that won't be enough to take down the show's big villain. I really had no notes about it.

Do you recall your co-stars’ reactions the first time that you rehearsed the scene, or did a table read? If El is alive, the existence of programs like Project Indigo may never truly end, but as of Stranger Things season 5, Volume 2's ending, it's unclear if Eleven is willing to sacrifice herself.

How Will Can Help Beat Vecna

After nearly five full seasons, Stranger Things finally confirms that Will is gay by giving the character an emotional scene that allows him to come out to his family and friends.

Although Will identifies the countless ways he is like his friends (the games, movies, and food they like, etc.), he explains that he doesn't like girls.

Will doesn't explicitly say the word gay, but it's abundantly clear not only in his explanation that he doesn't like girls the way his friends do, but also due to his reference to having a crush on someone while looking at Mike, that he's coming out.

This is a plot that has been building for some time, with Will increasingly struggling to watch Mike and Eleven/Jane's relationship and his conversations with Robin about how to take that leap or read the signs the way that Robin did with her now-girlfriend Vickie.

I had Winona next to me, and the boys and Maya [Hawke] around me. From there, Eleven can hopefully use her powers to hijack Vecna's mind while in the Upside Down's version of Hawkins Lab.

Whereas Max can help guide El into Vecna's mind, considering her experiences from within his mindscape, Kali plans to use her own powers to piggyback into Vecna's mind with her sister.

So I could either start with a wide and kind of explore it and feel out the scene and then go to the close up, or go straight into it. They were supporting me on all these angles where they weren’t even caught on camera. He wants them to plant a bomb near the exotic matter in Upside Down to destroy the bridge, with the hope that it will also destroy the Abyss and everything inside of it.

It was like a 12-hour day of just that monologue. How are you gonna write it?” Eventually, they said they had it, and I read it by the end of the year in August or September.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

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