“Stranger Things” star Noah Schnapp comes out as gay – CBS News

“Stranger Things” star Noah Schnapp came out as gay in an 8-second TikTok video on Thursday.

The 18-year-old actor, who plays closeted gay teenager Will Byers in the hit Netflix series, wrote on-screen, “When I finally told my friends and family I was gay after being scared and in the closet for 18 years and all they said was ‘we know.'” 

In the video, Schnapp was also lip-syncing along with an audio clip popular on TikTok of someone saying, “You know what it never was? That serious. It was never that serious. Quite frankly, will never be that serious.”

Schnapp captioned the video, “I guess I’m more similar to Will than I thought.”

Commenters on the video showed a great deal of support for Schnapp, with some users writing messages like “SO proud of you!!” and “Can we all appreciate that Noah came out to the whole world and realize how much courage it takes to do that when you’re a literal celebrity.”

Last July, Schnapp confirmed fan suspicions that his character, Will, is gay and in love with his best friend.

“It was always kind of there, but you never really knew, is it just him growing up slower than his friends?” Schnapp told 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.”

Last year, Netflix and the creators of “Stranger Things” said the upcoming fifth season would be the last of the series, though there have been no details about the season’s release date.