Noah Schnapp has opened up about the evolution of Will Byers and Vecna’s connection in Stranger Things season 5, and even he admits it reminds him of the Harry Potter franchise. Stranger Things season 5 kicked off with its first four episodes on November 26, 2025, bringing us back to Hawkins 18 months after immense gates to the Upside Down threatened to destroy the once-quaint Indiana town. Our central crew have spent this time hunting for Vecna, but one character has a connection to the deformed psychic villain that presents a new threat in season 5. BE WARNED! This article contains major spoilers for Stranger Things season 5, episodes 1-4.
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“For Will, we start to learn the parallels between Will and Vecna, and it almost felt very Harry Potter to me that I had to go back and re-watch the movies,” Noah Schnapp revealed to Deadline in a recent article. “The Harry Potter-Voldemort relationship felt very close to Will and Vecna, so [we’re] just kind of exploring those parallels and what that means.” We glimpsed the full extent of Will and Vecna’s connection at the end of Stranger Things season 5, episode 4, “Sorcerer,” but the Harry Potter and Voldemort similarities could spell bad news for Will.
What Will & Vecna Being Like Harry Potter & Voldemort Means for Stranger Things’ Upcoming Episodes
In “Sorcerer,” Will Byers finally learned how to harness his connection to Vecna for his own benefit. He used Vecna’s psychic power to stop three Demogorgons from killing his friends, and was even able to completely break the creatures’ bodies in the same way that Vecna broke his victims’ bodies in Stranger Things season 4. This was an incredibly powerful moment for Will — perhaps his most poignant and breath-taking moment in the entire series — and Will being so connected to Vecna reminds us how Harry Potter was connected to Voldemort as one of his seven Horcruxes.
Harry Potter existing as one of Voldemort’s Horcruxes, however, meant that Potter had to die in order for Voldemort to be defeated. Will being so connected to Vecna in Stranger Things could imply the same, which may spell very bad news for Will as season 5 develops with a second volume on Christmas Day and a feature-length finale on New Year’s Eve. In order to defeat Vecna, Will Byers may need to die, and while this would be a brilliant full-circle moment for the series, it would still be heart-breaking.
Stranger Things season 5 still has a great deal of explaining to do, as Will exact connection to Vecna, how he’s able to harness his power, and how this will change him are yet to be revealed. We also don’t yet know the details of Vecna’s actual plan, nor do we know how the final showdown between Vecna, Will, and the rest of the crew will go down. If they’re anything like Harry Potter and Voldemort, Will’s life could be on the line, but it could also be the younger Byers who finally ends Vecna’s onslaught once and for all.
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