“We’re proud of the episode, and we’re proud of the scene, and proud of Noah”
Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer should be on top of the world. The hotly anticipated final season of their hit Netflix series has smashed viewing records, drawn critical acclaim (it’s a gentleman’s three stars from me, mind you), and generally gone out with a bang.
But it’s not all wine and roses for the identical twin brothers. The seventh and penultimate episode, titled “The Bridge”, met with a wave of review-bombing and homophobic online commentary from the usual array of mouthbreathers, because that’s the episode where Noah Schapp’s Will Byers finally comes out as gay – something that’s been heavily telegraphed for years now.
Certainly, you could argue that you can’t prove the sudden negative audience reviews were largely homophobic in nature. It’s not beyond the pale they were for other reasons – stranger things have happened. But that’s just dissembling, mealy-mouthed bullshit, so let’s skip it and go to the Duffer brothers addressing the “controversy”.
Speaking to Variety after the final episode of Stranger Things dropped, Ross Duffer noted that Will’s sexuality was something they’d set up from the jump. “The coming out scene is something we’ve been building to for nine years now. It was a really important scene for us, and a really important scene for Noah — not just from a thematic point of view, but also a narrative point of view.”
He went on to note that the show has always been about their characters finding the strength to overcome evil. “Vecna, in so many ways, represents all the dark thoughts and the evil of society. And for our characters to overcome that, it really becomes about embracing themselves, and then also embracing one another and coming together. “
Matt Duffer added that it’s all about self-acceptance. “He’s trying to figure out how to come out, and he knows that he needs to do that, and that that’s the final step for him. And he finds the courage to be able to do it. And it’s really the ultimate fuck you to Vecna. That was the intention.”
Matt went on to aver that the siblings had not expected the backlash the episode was subjected to, “Because it is, as Ross said, something we’ve been building for a really long time. I always say, Ross and I are many things, but subtle is not one of those things!”
Stranger Things – all of it, at last – is now streaming on Netflix.
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