Will Byers of Stranger Things has no idea how much his life will change after he gets lost in the woods on his way home from playing Dungeons & Dragons with Mike and his friends. The other kids won’t tell him what they saw while they were looking for him, but they’re clearly scared. And Will knows there’s something very wrong when everyone seems to be avoiding him now and there are strange new security guards at the lab where Will’s mom works. Will Byers: The Boy Who Was Taken by a Monster
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Meet Will Byers
If you’ve watched Stranger Things, then you know that young Will is just as important to defeating Hopper and his crew as Eleven is. Noah Schnapp’s portrayal of Will in seasons 1 and 2 (so far) has been incredible. It’s so good, in fact, that many fans were incredibly happy to see Schnapp being recognized at the SAG Awards for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series. As per usual, let’s take a look at how Schnapp got there—and what he has planned next! You might be surprised to learn where it all started…
6 Ways Will’s Life Changed After Being Taken
1. He went from being an average boy to a media sensation overnight
2. Before he disappeared, Will used to play with his younger brother Jonathan Byers, who was jealous of all of Will’s attention
3. His mother Joyce Byers had made him pancakes that morning before his kidnapping
4. He met a girl named Eleven who became his friend after she saved him from the monster
5. Will can be seen running around school in Mr Clarke’s class at Hawkins Middle School
6. After he returned home after being gone for several days, he was suffering from PTSD 7.
4 Times Will Clearly Saw Stuff We Didn’t
We can all agree that Stranger Things is one of Netflix’s best original series. In fact, I’d go as far as to say it’s one of my favorite shows ever. It’s funny, charming, and overall just so brilliant.
Since its release in July 2016, Noah Schnapp has portrayed Will, who was taken by an evil monster in season 1 and returned in season 2.
He goes back to school—alive—and continues life normally until he goes missing again at the end of episode 2 and isn’t seen again until episode 7 of season 2. But we’ve still got questions…
About what happened when he went missing? Or after? There are so many things going on here!
5 Times People Stopped Looking for Him
Stranger Things is known for many things, but one of its biggest strengths is its standout cast. In season 2, we’ve watched as Will’s friendship with his older brother and best friend Bob began to fall apart, thanks to Bob’s involvement in a mysterious cult. We also saw Will’s relationship with Mike grow strained when he tried to investigate what happened in Hawkins Lab. Stranger Things fans have gotten behind Will through it all—even after Joyce suggested that he had been replaced by an evil doppelganger—but let’s not forget that before all of that, they were pretty quick to turn on him themselves. Here are 7 times his friends turned on him.
3 Times He Tried to Tell His Mom About the Upside Down
In The Vanishing of Will Byers, Will told his mom that he was just stressed about everything—including new friends, new schools and being out of his comfort zone. We think it’s safe to say that Joyce didn’t take him very seriously. After Will was taken by a monster from an alternate dimension, Joyce said she knew he was trying to tell her something and felt like it was her fault for not listening. It wasn’t…or at least not in his own way.
4 Times He Went Into Hiding with Hopper
Everyone in Hawkins, Indiana was worried about Will Byers. He had gone missing and no one knew where he had gone. There were many twists and turns along the way, but it all came together at end, when they discovered that Will wasn’t taken by a monster but some other dimension called the upside down. Noah Schnapp who plays Will on Stranger Things revealed to TIME why he loves playing Will so much.
5 Times He Looked Like a Total Badass
Stranger Things has been nominated for 18 Emmy Awards and won five in 2017, including Best Drama Series. Since its 2016 premiere, viewers have rooted for characters Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard), Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo), Lucas Sinclair (Caleb McLaughlin) and Will Byers to defeat evil forces like Hawkins Laboratory scientists and Demogorgons from an alternate dimension known as Upside Down. But behind all of their monster-fighting successes is one brave boy: Will Byers. Though he’s often portrayed as timid and fearful about his future, Will has saved himself on multiple occasions – some we saw with our own eyes in Season 1, others we learned about through flashbacks. He’s also saved his friends on occasion too!
6 Times It Seemed Like Nobody Cared About Him Anymore
It’s bad enough to be in danger when all you want is for your family and friends to come help you. But it’s even worse when they’re not even willing to acknowledge that anything is wrong in the first place. Throughout season 2, Will has been getting strange phone calls from someone asking if he was okay and how much he missed his family. It turns out, though, that nobody else seemed to remember those calls except for Will—but that doesn’t mean people didn’t care about him. In fact, these are six moments of When Other People Thought He Was Forgotten or Ignored…When They Actually Did Care Deeply About Him At His Most Vulnerable Moments!
7 Times His Friends Turned on Him
Sometimes, all it takes is one little lie or misdeed to ruin a friendship. No one is safe from getting on each other’s nerves, but in some instances, people turn their back on those closest to them—whether they deserve it or not. In these cases, forgiveness is hard to come by. These 7 times friends turned on Will Byers for something he didn’t do illustrate how difficult it can be for someone that has wronged you to earn your trust back.
Does Noah Schnapp play Will Byers?
Noah Schnapp plays Will Byers, young brother of Jonathan and son of Joyce Byers. We don’t know if it’s because he’s tired of his role on Netflix sensation Stranger Things , or maybe it has something to do with why Eleven isn’t in season 2. What we do know is that Noah Schnapp has been signed on for season 3 .
How old is Will Byers in season 1?
Will is around 12 years old in season 1. In episode 6 (The Spy), Joyce tells Hopper that Will is 12, but he has some delays because of his epilepsy so sometimes he acts younger than his age. When speaking to Will’s therapist in episode 8 (The Mind Flayer), she estimates that Will is somewhere between 11 and 13 years old.
Does Noah Schnapp go to Harvard?
Noah Schnapp is an American actor. He has been in one movie and six TV shows. Noah was born in California, but moved to New York when he was 9 to start acting. His first role was on The Blacklist and his second role was in Bridge of Spies. In 2015, he got the main role in Netflix’s series Stranger Things as Will Byers (recurring season 1; starring seasons 2–present). Before that, he played Louis Ballard on Hulu’s original show Shut Eye for two episodes. He will also be in Paramount Pictures’ upcoming film Rocketman alongside Taron Egerton and Jamie Bell. He also stars as Norman White in AwesomenessTV’s Best Friends Whenever since 2016 until 2017.
How old is Will Byers?
Will is 8 years old. Will was 7 years old in season 1 of Stranger Things. In Season 2 of Stranger Things, Will has aged two years and he’s 9. He’ll be 10 in Season 3, which is set to debut sometime in 2019 on Netflix.
