Is Will in love with Eleven

Mike's rousing speech of love to Eleven in Stranger Things season 4 is so much worse for Will than it seems. The beginning of volume 1 sees Eleven finally bring up the fact that Mike has never said that he loves her. She brings out stacks and stacks of letters to prove her point, all of which are bluntly signed off "From, Mike." Clearly, it's something important to her, and it's also something that Mike has struggled with verbalizing for a few seasons of Stranger Things. It finally comes out in his speech to her, but it unfortunately also hurts Will.

SCREENRANT VIDEO OF THE DAY

Will's love for Mike has been building for a while now, but it becomes apparent in Stranger Things season 4. His speech to Mike about being the heart of the group and disguising his real feelings by feigning talking from Eleven's point of view is heartbreaking to watch. Will has always been a true friend. Thus he doesn't stand in the way of his friends' relationships and compartmentalizes his own feelings for their benefit. However, Mike's speech to Eleven undoubtedly hurts him, and it's made worse by one specific line from Mike.

Related: The Meaning Of Will's Painting In Stranger Things

Mike's speech to Eleven is powerful enough to spur Eleven to fight Vecna, with her regaining new confidence after Mike tells Eleven he loves her. This speech, while a key moment for the couple in Stranger Things, is like watching Will's worst nightmare. Not only does he have to watch the boy he likes confess his love for someone else, but the context behind one of Mike's sentiments is gut-wrenching. Mike tells Eleven, "My life started the day we found you in the woods." What makes this worse for Will is that specific day was when he was discovered to be missing.

Mike's Eleven Speech Reveals How Much He's Changed In Stranger Things

Over the course of Stranger Things, Mike has overlooked his friends more and more in favor of his girlfriend, Eleven. In season 1, he jumped off a cliff to save Dustin from bullies. Then in season 2, he was the only one who was permanently by Will's side when Lucas and Dustin were chasing Max. However, when Eleven came back at the end of Stranger Things season 2, Mike was then completely smitten by season 3. He became distant from Will and only wanted to talk about girls. All Will wanted to do was reconnect and bond over Dungeons & Dragons. In Stranger Things season 4, Will says that Mike has barely called, even though his best friend lives in a completely different state, and it's easy to imagine that Mike's phone calls to the Byers household were mainly for Eleven.

Mike being so blinded by his girlfriend as to say something so self-centered shows how far he's strayed from the season 1 Mike, who would do anything for his friends. Will was fighting for his life in the Upside Down, and contrarily, Mike himself has stated that his life at that time had only just started. Will's trauma in Stranger Things has increasingly been swept to the back of Mike's mind, almost as if he takes it for granted that his best friend is, miraculously, alive and well after everything he's been through.

Since Stranger Things premiered on Netflix in 2016, we've seen Noah Schnapp's character Will Byers get kidnapped by the Demogorgon, deal with a psychic connection to the Mind Flayer, and adjust to teenage life and the changing dynamics going on in his friend group. In season four, a new aspect of Will emerged more fully; the teenager from Hawkins appeared to have a crush on his friend Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard), and now Noah is confirming that Will is indeed gay and in love with Mike.

Noah expanded on the storyline in a new interview with Variety, saying that he initially dodged the question and said Will's sexuality was “up to the audience’s interpretation" because he didn't want to spoil the fourth season, but the character arc has been there since the first episodes of the Netflix series. "I mean, it’s pretty clear this season that Will has feelings for Mike. They’ve been intentionally pulling that out over the past few seasons. Even in Season 1, they hinted at that and slowly, slowly grew that storyline," Noah explained to the outlet. "I think for Season 4, it was just me playing this character who loves his best friend but struggles with knowing if he’ll be accepted or not, and feeling like a mistake and like he doesn’t belong. Will has always felt like that."

Noah has known about Will's journey since he began playing the character and has heard from fans how meaningful it has been to them. "Now it’s 100% clear that he is gay and he does love Mike. But before, it was a slow arc. I think it is done so beautifully, because it’s so easy to make a character just like all of a sudden be gay," he shared. "People have come up to me — I was just in Paris and this, like, 40-year-old man came up to me and he was like, 'Wow, this Will character made me feel so good. And I related to it so much. That is exactly who I was when I was a kid.' That just made me so happy to hear. They are writing this real character and this real journey and real struggle and they’re doing it so well."

The shift in Will's storyline from supernatural darkness to more personal moments has given Noah more to work with when it comes to his portrayal of Will. "I was used to acting him [dealing] with the Mind Flayer, the supernatural aspects and the darker, kind of non-personal stuff. This season was a new thing for me," He shared. "I had to explore him navigating his personal identity issues and struggling with growing up and assimilating into high school. It was new for me."

Noah also shared that there's more in store for Will next season. "The Duffers are saying for next season that they’re going to focus more on Will and build that storyline," he told Variety. "They’re still working it out, but they have their end goal. There’s so many different things they have to address. Obviously, we hope for a coming out scene, and I also want to see them address this connection to the Mind Flayer and how that fits into the world. And I’ve always been wondering, why was Will the first victim and the first one captured? I just want to see it all tie in and all work out. So I’m excited to see what happens." 

Who is Will in love with in Stranger Things?

Does Will love Mike or Eleven?

Will Byers and Eleven have a relationship?

Who is Will Byers boyfriend?