Noah Schnapp, best known for playing closeted gay teenager Will Byers on Netflix’s hit series Stranger Things, has come out as gay.

In a TikTok video posted on Thursday, the 18-year-old actor 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.'”

In the video’s caption, he wrote, “I guess I’m more similar to Will than I thought.”

https://www.tiktok.com/@noahschnapp/video/7185289110133820715?embed_source=121331973%2C120811592%2C120810756%3Bnull%3Bembed_masking&is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1&refer=embed&referer_url=ew.com%2Fcelebrity%2Fstranger-things-star-noah-schnapp-comes-out-as-gay%2F&referer_video_id=7185289110133820715

Last summer, after the debut of the show’s final two episodes of the fourth season, Schnapp confirmed that Will Byers is gay and in love with his best friend Mike, played by Finn Wolfhard.

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Will’s sexuality was an open question since the very first episode of Stranger Things, but Schnapp had always shied away from defining the character’s identity.

“Obviously, it was hinted at in Season 1: It was always kind of there, but you never really knew, ‘Is it just him growing up slower than his friends?'” Schnapp explained to Variety. “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.”

This reveal occurred in the season 4 finale where Will talks to Mike about feeling “different.” He later has a conversation with his older brother Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) where Jonathan offers his support to Will.

Schnapp said that this aspect of Will’s character took time to define in order to reflect the complexities of what happens in real life.

“But before, it was a slow arc,” the actor said. “I think it is done so beautifully because it’s so easy to make a character just like all of a sudden be gay.”

Netflix and the creators of Stranger Things have announced that season 5 will be the last of the show. However, there is no public information about when production will begin.

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