Noah is gay

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I was making handshakes with them and I felt like I was 12 years old again. It was real and raw and I’m glad I did it that way.

Was there anything that surprised you in the final cut of the scene and the way it was edited? "And I feel like Will really embraces that this season and will inspire a lot of people for sure. "I’ll never forget how supportive they were on that day and how respectful and giving they were to me, because they had to sit there through an entire night just hearing me ramble." 

For the takes they weren't shown on-camera, he noted, "They could have gone and sat in Video Village or hung out, but they all sat there in their spots through the whole day.

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.

"I was worried that I might need to," he recently told Variety of workshopping the season five, episode seven moment with the Duffer brothers and episode director Shawn Levy, "but honestly, it was perfect.

We definitely got closer. In the ’80s, I can’t imagine how much more pressure there was and how much more there was to lose.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

• The Duffer Brothers break down all the Volume 2 spoilers
• The Duffer Brothersbreak down all the Volume 1 spoilers
• Noah Schnappon Turning Into the [SPOILER] in Volume 1
•Sadie Sinkon Max’s Key Role in Volume 1
•Nell Fisher on Playing Holly Wheeler in Season 5
• The Cast of ‘Stranger Things’ on the Show’s Final Days
• Variety’s “Stranger Things” Oct.

15 Cover Story About the Duffers
•Cara Buonoon Karen’s Kick-Ass Hero Moment (At Last)
• The Duffer Brothers on the ‘Stranger Things’ Spinoff
• Linda Hamiltonon Being Millie Bobby Brown’s ‘Biggest Fan’
• Shawn Levyon ‘Sticking the Landing’ for Season 5
• David Harbouron How ‘Stranger Things’ Has Changed Him

Stranger Things' Noah Schnapp says he'd still be closeted if Will wasn't gay in the show

4 December 2025, 15:29

By Capital Buzz

"I would be in a completely different place if I didn’t have Will to portray, and to embrace and help me accept myself.

We came back a week later to reshoot certain parts of the scene for another 12 hours. Noah said: "Being fully aware of it and just completely, blatantly hiding it, it was really hard. I’d barely spoken to Maya before then. I was like, if he has all this support, then why should I worry about anything?"

He added: "Once I did fully embrace that Will was gay, it was just an exponential speed towards accepting it for myself.

I was like, 'Holy sh*t. I got advice from Maya on how to prepare for it, because there were so many lines, more lines than I’d ever had before. "I never felt stuck to anything."

Netflix

To prep, he turned to his most loquacious costar. But then on the day, I was able to explore the feelings and emotions, and it was fun to have those 12 hours to play and feel.

Because you get to see this kid who’s always stepped on and is always the victim, and you feel bad for.

Discussing the reaction to his coming out video with Variety, Noah said: "When I opened my phone at the end of the car ride, it was, like, a thousand texts of hearts and congratulations and rainbow flags. We have to remember that its the 1980s.

I didn’t expect to have such trouble letting go of her on that last day. 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? They just brought this childlike energy that reminded us that we were still kids too.

While the character has spent much of the series as the victim, he takes center stage as a hero in Season 5, revealed to have sorcerer-like supernatural abilities in the season’s fourth episode that concluded Volume 1.

noah is gay

You always feel like you don’t know anything and you have so much more to learn, but then it makes you realize that we’ve spent 10 years here, and we do have some experience now. I’m glad that they edited it the way they did, where it’s nice to see him not just sob through the whole scene, but kind of smile through the memories and give that lighter feel.