fiction.wikisort.org - Character

William Byers is a fictional character from the American science fiction horror drama television series Stranger Things. Portrayed by Noah Schnapp, the character appears in a recurring capacity in the first season before being promoted to the main cast in the second season.

Will Byers
Stranger Things character
Noah Schnapp as Will Byers in season 3
First appearance	"Chapter One: The Vanishing of Will Byers" (2016)
Created by	The Duffer Brothers
Portrayed by	Noah Schnapp
In-universe information
Full name	William Byers
Nicknames	Will the Wise The Spy Zombie Boy
Affiliation	AV Club
Family	Joyce Byers (mother) Lonnie Byers (father) Jonathan Byers (brother) Eleven (adoptive sister)
Home	Hawkins, Indiana, United States (Seasons 1–3) Lenora Hills, California, United States (Seasons 3-4)

Characterization

Noah Schnapp was cast as Will Byers in August 2015.[1][2] Schnapp was promoted to series regular for the second season in October 2016, after recurring in the first.[3] Schnapp was revealed to be returning for the third season in a main role by February 9, 2018.[4] The idea of having Will communicate with Joyce via lightbulbs was inspired by 1980s films, including Poltergeist.[5] In terms of the narrative in the third season, Levy said the season would be less about Will, saying, "We're not going to put Will through hell for a third season in a row. He'll be dealing with stuff, but he won't be at rock bottom... We're [going to be] dealing with forces of evil that are new."[6]

Fictional biography

Season 1

Will, the younger brother of Jonathan Byers and the son of Joyce Byers and Lonnie Byers, is a shy, kind, and often timid boy. In the group's Dungeons and Dragons party, Will is the cleric, but later occasionally plays the role of Dungeon Master; he is referred to as "Will the Wise". In November 1983, he vanishes somewhere near "Mirkwood" after encountering the monster that escaped through a rift to the "Upside Down", an alternate dimension discovered by the Hawkins Laboratory scientists.[7] Will begins communicating with Joyce through lightbulbs, so Joyce arranges a setup so Will can light up lights next to letters to spell sentences. When Jim Hopper and Joyce venture into the Upside Down to find him unconscious, they revive him with CPR and bring him back to the real world, but he still has side effects from his time in the alternate dimension, including a slug emerging from his mouth, visions of the Upside Down, and a connection to the Mind Flayer.

Season 2

After returning he is harassed by local residents who dub him "Zombie Boy" after apparently returning from the dead hoax orchestrated by the people from Hawkins Laboratory. He has had regular appointments with Dr. Sam Owens who is examining any potential links he may still have with "The Upside Down"; Will has regular visions of the upside down and a looming monster watching him. After one of these visions, he confides in Mike who in turn reveals he is attempting to contact Eleven. Dustin shows the group a slug-like animal he found and named D'Artagnan and Will realises he threw it up during one of his hallucinations. Joyce's boyfriend Bob tells Will to 'face his fears' not knowing what these fears actually are. When Will attempts to confront the monster he is possessed by the Mind Flayer from the Upside Down. Will is found and woken up, but he acts strangely: scribbling and demanding the house be kept cold. The next day, he has a vision of Hopper trapped in the tunnels and Bob discovers what Will's drawings mean. Hopper is saved by the group, but the scientists set the tunnels on fire causing Will to collapse and convulse in agony. Will has memory loss from the experience, and Dr Owens refuses to destroy the tunnel as it would kill Will. Will instructs the scientists to head to a specific spot he cannot see, but it is revealed the Mind Flayer is controlling him and he lead everyone into a trap. Will is sedated to halt the monster, and rescued from the lab where he is able to communicate with the group through morse code. Eventually, he gets freed from the Mind Flayer through the efforts of his mother, brother, and Nancy Wheeler, who burn the Mind Flayer out of him, a deduction they surmised after comments Will made about wanting to stay cold. He then goes to the snowball dance where the Mind Flayer still watches over him and the others.

Season 3

Will discovers he still has a link to the upside down and senses a presence privately. He grows upset with his friends all being in relationships and abandoning their childhood hobbies such as DnD, especially seeing as he never got a proper childhood. He has a fight with Lucas and Mike when they make fun of him trying to play DnD and Mike follows him out. They argue some more with Mike exclaiming "it's not my fault you don't like girls!", due to Will being the only one in the Party to not have any interest in girls/dating. While nothing further is said between the two Will is visibly hurt, and while not knowing why, so is Mike, looking as if he has struck a nerve with Will and inadvertently hurt him, Will looks at a picture of them all younger and dressed as Ghostbusters before destroying 'Castle Byers.’ Will senses a possessed Billy and Heather attack the latter's parents and he realises that the mind flayer is still alive. Will reveals his connection, and they theorise Billy is possessed, trapping him in a sauna to discover the truth. Billy escapes and attacks them, before fleeing as Eleven almost subdues him. They are all attacked at the hospital and later save Steve, Robin and Dustin at the Starcourt mall. The mindflayer attacks and is later defeated by the group. At the end of the season, Will moves out of Hawkins with his mother, brother and Eleven after giving away his own Dungeons and Dragons set to Erica Sinclair.

Season 4

Will now lives in Lenora, California with Joyce, Jonathan and Eleven, who is bullied by other students at her school. Mike comes to visit Eleven for spring break; Eleven claims she is living happily, but Will confronts her over her dishonesty. Will and Mike witness Eleven assaulting Angela – her primary bully – after which Will confides Eleven's despair to Mike. Eleven's arrest is intercepted by Dr. Owens, who takes her to a research facility in Nevada to participate in a project called "NINA" that is aimed at restoring her powers. Will joins Mike, Jonathan and Argyle (Jonathan's friend) in searching for Eleven, while evading the pursuit of the U.S. Army. Dustin's girlfriend Suzie helps them find the NINA project's coordinates; they arrive as Eleven overpowers the Army forces before reuniting with them. Before they reach Eleven, Will shows Mike his painting depicting him and his friends fighting a dragon together; Will claims the painting was Eleven's idea, but silently breaks into tears afterwards. Jonathan, who knows there is something unspoken that Will is going through, later assures Will he is loved and promises to be there for him. Will, Mike, Jonathan and Argyle help Eleven telepathically fight Vecna through an isolation tank. Upon returning to Hawkins, Will feels the Upside Down's presence return, right as the dimension begins to infiltrate Hawkins.

Reception

Critical reception

Will was ranked the third best Stranger Things character by Screen Rant, behind only Eleven and Steve Harrington.[8]

Accolades

Schnapp received a total of two awards and six nominations for his role as Will Byers. Schnapp was nominated for an MTV Movie & TV Awards in the category of Best On-Screen Team with other cast members Gaten Matarazzo, Finn Wolfhard, Caleb McLaughlin, and Sadie Sink in 2018, as well as in the category of Most Frightened Performance the same year, which he won.[9] Along with the rest of the main cast in the second season, Schnapp was awarded the Screen Actors Guild Awards in the category of Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series in 2017.[10][11] For the third season, the main cast (including Schnapp) was once again nominated for the same award, however this time the cast did not win, and once again for the same result.[12] In 2017, Schnapp was nominated for the category of Best Performance in a Digital TV Series or Film – Young Actor.[13]

Sexuality

Viewers have speculated that Will is gay and harbors feelings for his best friend Mike, which the series itself has not confirmed or denied.[14][15][16][17] Critics interpreted the final two episodes of the fourth season as subtextually acknowledging Will's sexuality, particularly during a scene where Will shows Mike his painting of he and his friends, claiming it to be a gift from Eleven, only to silently cry afterwards.[18][19] The Duffer brothers have commented in a July 2022 interview that this scene, alongside others in the fourth season between Will and Mike, have served as a way of "relieving himself of some of that burden" of discussing his sexuality and that they plan on continuing this character arc as a crucial component of the final season.[20] Schnapp himself stated in July 2022 that he believes that it is "100% clear" and a "very real, obvious thing" that Will is gay and is in love with Mike.[21]

References

---