Stranger Things Star Confirms Emotional Season 4 Scene Wasn’t In Script

Stranger Things’ fourth season came to an end this month, and fans of the Netflix horror series are eager to find out what will happen in the fifth and final season, which probably won’t hit the streaming site until 2024. There are many loose ends to tie up in the show, and some fans have been hoping they will confirm that Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) is gay. The fourth season gave plenty of hints, and Schnapp finally confirmed his character’s sexuality in an interview with Variety. Not only is Will gay and “in like with Mike,” but the actor shared that one big emotional moment of the season wasn’t originally in the script. On their travels, Mike questions his future with El and Will gives him a big speech about how much she loves and needs him before silently sobbing off to the side. Of course, it was pretty clear he was actually talking about his own feelings for his friend. Will’s brother Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) witnesses this exchange and later tells his brother he will always be there for him and that he can tell him anything, basically communicating he knows he’s gay and he will always love him. 

“So this scene was actually not originally written in the script,” Schnapp said of the emotional moment between the brothers. “It was only until after I did the scene of me in the van, where they saw me crying and the protectiveness that you see with Jonathan looking in the rearview mirror. They were like, we need a scene with that. So they wrote it as we were filming. It’s also very important for people to see that Will is not alone — because all we ever see of him is struggling and feeling depressed and that he can’t be himself. Jonathan is talking to him in code — it’s just the perfect way to tell someone like Will that he cares about him and he accepts him no matter what. I think it was really wholesome.” 

This isn’t the only moment from the fourth season of Stranger Things that was not in the script. The official Twitter account for the Stranger Things writers took to social media recently to share that Joseph Quinn actually improvised the moment when Eddie Munson says “I love you, man” to Dustin. They also revealed that Caleb McLaughlin improved Lucas Sinclair’s line “Erica, help.” Turns out, one of the kisses between Joyce (Winona Ryder) and Hopper (David Harbour) was also the actors’ idea. 

Stranger Things Season 4 – Volume 2 is now streaming on Netflix.