“Stranger Things” fans finally got the Will Byers payoff they’ve been waiting for, and Noah Schnapp was just as stunned as viewers.
Spoilers ahead for “Stranger Things” Season 5, Volume 1.
Volume 1 of the final season, which is now streaming on Netflix, builds steadily toward Will’s long-teased breaking point.
The early episodes put the Hawkins crew under pressure as new breaches open, Vecna’s influence spreads and Will keeps getting hit with painful psychic flashes that track every major Upside Down disturbance.
By Episode 3, hive-mind attacks across town appear to sync with Will’s own reactions, setting up something bigger on the horizon.
That “something” arrives in Episode 4, “Sorcerer,” when Will suddenly unleashes a massive telekinetic blast that wipes out a pack of Demogorgons closing in on his friends. His eyes go white, his body stiffens and his arms fly out – then the monsters are obliterated.
When it’s over, Will wipes away a single nosebleed, a signature Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) touch that drops the biggest cliffhanger of Volume 1.
“It was a whiplash of a reveal for me,” Schnapp, 21, told Entertainment Weekly during an interview published alongside the release of “Stranger Things” Season 5, Volume 1 on Friday.
But according to show creators Matt and Ross Duffer, Will hasn’t suddenly become a second Eleven. His powers come from somewhere much darker.
Because Schnapp’s character has been psychically tethered to the Mind Flayer and Vecna since Season 1, that connection now lets him tap into Vecna’s abilities when pushed to the edge.
“He’s not a new Eleven, and that was important to us,” Matt, 41, explained. “In fact, he doesn’t really have powers himself. He’s channeling Vecna’s powers.”
Ross, 41, added that the idea had been on their minds ever since Season 2 premiered back in October 2017.
“Every time we got to a season, it just felt like, ‘The time’s not right now,’” he shared. “And then finally we hit the final season and we’re like, ‘If we’re gonna do it, this is our last chance to do it.’”
“The show started with Will’s disappearance,” Matt continued. “So it made sense to center much of the final season on and around Will.”
For Schnapp, filming the reveal meant hours of physical choreography and a lot of pressure to deliver a moment the show spent nearly a decade building toward.
He prepared by studying animal movement to give the power surge an instinctive and unrestrained feel.
“I consistently channeled a 6,000-pound silverback gorilla,” the actor said. “I would watch videos of how they walk and how they move and breathe, and just grunt and imagine it as I’m getting into that to show that’s not Baby Will in there.”
Schnapp assumed that they’d shoot take after take to get the moment just right – but they didn’t need to.
“I ran to the tent, we watched it. I looked at Ross and we just started laughing,” he recalled. “We were like, ‘Don’t touch it! That’s it. We’re done.’”
The twist also hits at a deeper emotional layer for Schnapp’s character. Will’s story this season continues to explore his internal struggle and the personal acceptance he’s quietly fought for throughout the series.
Schnapp, who came out as gay publicly in 2023, sees the arc as something more complicated than a simple coming-out narrative.
“It wasn’t just like a one-note coming-out story,” he said. “It was complex, wrapped up in this internal struggle of an external world that we’re fighting. To overcome this external force, he has to accept his internal struggle. It was kind of like an interwoven superhero coming-out story.”
Now that Will’s connection to the Upside Down and Vecna has erupted into something visible and dangerous, the Duffers say he’s officially a major force in the story’s endgame.
In Volume 2, Will becomes “a new chess piece on the board for Hawkins” whose powers could be the key to saving the town while potentially destroying him in the process.
“Those two characters and their connection really remain at the center of the show,” the Duffers concluded.
“Stranger Things” Season 5 is releasing on Netflix in three parts: Volume 1 on Nov. 26, Volume 2 on Dec. 25, and the series finale on Dec. 31.
The first four episodes of the eight-episode season were released on Nov. 26th, the day before Thanksgiving. The subsequent episodes will be released on Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve.
