Stranger Things creators defend Will coming out amid review bombardment

SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers for the series finale of “Stranger Things,” now streaming on Netflix.

Matt and Ross Duffer, the creators of ‘Stranger Things’, weren’t expecting the reviews that occurred after the series’ penultimate episode dropped on Netflix on Christmas Day – but they’re still extremely proud.

The three episodes brought the season’s Rotten Tomatoes score down to 56% – by far the lowest, with Season 4 at 89%, Season 3 at 86%, Season 2 at 90%, and Season 1 at 96%. “The Bridge”, the seventh episode, in which Will (Noah Schnapp) came out as gay to his friends before fighting Vecna, became the lowest-rated episode of the series with a rating of 5.6 out of 10 and 96,000 reviews.

“The coming out scene is something we’ve been working on for nine years now. It was a very important scene for us, and a very important scene for Noah – not only from a thematic point of view, but also from a narrative point of view,” says Ross Duffer. Variety on January 1 during a lengthy postmortem after the series finale. “This show has always been about our characters overcoming evil, and to overcome this evil, Vecna ​​represents in so many ways all the dark thoughts and evil of society. And for our characters to overcome that, it’s really about embracing themselves, and then also embracing each other and coming together.”

The scene was “the final step on Will’s journey, and Will is in many ways the key to defeating Vecna,” Matt Duffer adds. “Part 1 is really about self-acceptance, right? I mean, that’s kind of step one. And step two is Will talking to Robin – it’s something that he wants to do. He’s trying to figure out how to come out, and he knows he has to do that, and that that’s the last step for him. And he finds the courage to be able to do it. And it’s really the ultimate fuck you for Vecna. That was the intention.”

Although the episode was torn up online, that doesn’t change the way the creators feel about it.

“We’re proud of the episode, and we’re proud of the scene, and proud of Noah, who gave a very brave and very vulnerable performance,” says Ross.

The scene was extremely important to Schnapp, Matt says, and all three have remained close despite mixed reviews.

“I think Ross and I were most sensitive to that, namely Noah – because of how close to home this hit was for him,” he says. “And our goal was to make sure he was comfortable and happy with the scene. And when he was, we felt good about it. I texted with him a lot, but I specifically texted with him after that scene and after that episode aired. And he’s in a really good place. He’s very proud of the scene, and we’re proud of the scene.”

But even in 2025, online hate still caught them by surprise. “No is the honest truth,” Matt says when asked if he expected the homophobic response. “Because, like Ross said, it’s something we’ve been building for a long time. I always say, Ross and I are many things, but subtle isn’t one of them!”

After the episode dropped, Matt mentioned it too Variety that the duo “spent more time writing” the coming out scene than any other – and that it was all about collaboration.

“We were so worried about getting it right. There were a lot of things that went into it. I mean, we’re definitely nervous about how it’s going to turn out for everyone. But not as nervous as when we handed it to Noah. Because ultimately it resonated and it was truthful for him. We really wrote it for and for Noah. He wrote to us sobbing after he read it. So it really worked and resonated for him, which was great,” he said. “On the day itself, to be honest, there wasn’t much directing at all. Noah spent a lot of time, I mean, months, preparing for that scene, that moment. Luckily, that script was done well in advance. I know he did a lot of work himself… And most of what’s there is the first take.”

Kate Aurthur contributed reporting to this story.

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