Noah Schnapp Says Friends & Family Knew All Along That He Was Gay

Noah Schnapp has come out as gay!

The actor's real life seems to be mirroring his onscreen life months after he confirmed that his "Stranger Things" character — Will Byers — is gay, with deep feelings for his best friend Mike Wheeler — brought to life by Finn Wolfhard. Luckily for him, the people he adores the most in real life support him and his sexuality.

Schnapp shared his truth with his 31.7 million followers with a video that showed him wearing a gray hoodie. The 18-year-old had his head on a white pillow as he mouthed a woman's words, saying:

"You know it never was that serious; it was never that serious; quite frankly, we will never be that serious."

At the top of the coming-out clip, the "Bridge of Spies" star wrote, "When I finally told my friends and family I was gay after being scared in the closet for 18 years and all they said was 'we know."

Schnapp playfully acknowledged his "Stranger Things" character in the TikTok video's caption, claiming they had more in common than he thought. Within hours, the post received over seven million likes and 337k comments, with one fan asking:

"can we all appreciate that noah just came out to the whole world and realize how much courage it takes to do that when youre [SIC] a literal celebrity."

The actor received the same warm welcome on Twitter as one person called him an "icon," and another tweeted, "I'm so proud of Noah Schnapp for coming out!!! his caption almost made me choke laughing."

Along with a snapshot of Schnapp holding back emotion, a third fan claimed, "noah schnapp being gay makes so much sense because a straight person would never have been able to film this scene as well as he did."

A fourth viewer uploaded a tear-jerking video of Schnapps' character coming out to his onscreen brother Jonathan — played by Charlie Heaton — with the caption, "this scene has more meaning now, proud of noah schnapp."

"idk what i expected from 2023 but noah schnapp coming out as gay was not it," a fifth Twitter user added, and a sixth tweeted, "noah schnapp coming out on tiktok using an unserious audio with a funny unironic caption is such a gen z thing to do i love him DEARLY." A seventh fan noted, "no wonder noah schnapp was so protective and proud of will's character arc." 

Meanwhile, another person penned a thread that began, "i'm pretty neutral on noah schnapp like i don't love him or hate him but i am SO happy that a gay person is playing a canon gay character in one of the biggest tv shows in the world like this a textbook definition of representation of queers in media."

After reiterating his happiness that the actor came out, the Latino fan added that even though he was neither "supporting or liking him," he was "appreciative of minorities playing minorities in popular film & tv!"

As regards confirming Schnapp's character's sexuality in the hit Netflix series, The Blast observed that the writers had hinted at it over the years. Will's sexual orientation was increasingly apparent in the eighth episode of the fourth season and second part of the series.

The episode showed Mike ranting about his girlfriend, Eleven — played by Millie Bobby Brown — to Will, who reassured him of the woman's love for him. While the scene "solidified" his feelings for his best friend, who he was afraid to come out to. In an interview that occurred after the episode aired, Schnapp said:

"Obviously, it was hinted at in season one. It was always kind of there, but you never really knew, is it just him growing up slower than his friends? Now that he's gotten older, they made it a very real, obvious thing. Now it's 100% clear that he is gay and he does love Mike. But before, it was a slow arc."

The Teen Choice Awards winner also explained that since the fourth season premiered, he had been approached by fans who told him how much they related to Will's character.