Noah Schnapp said Thursday that he feels far more comfortable pushing ideas about Will’s story as Stranger Things heads into Season 5, telling an FYC panel in Los Angeles that the confidence came with age and years of living inside the role.
The 21-year-old, who was 11 when the Emmy-winning series premiered in 2016, said the shift from child actor to veteran cast member changed how he approached the show. “Starting off as a kid, you walk in all nervous and scared and think your opinion's not valued, and then as you get older, you realize, ‘No, I've been with this character for so many years, and I also have an opinion that matters,’” Schnapp said. “And I think coming into this season, I felt confident in that.”
The event, held Thursday at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, brought together creators Matt and Ross Duffer, producer and director Shawn Levy, and cast members Natalia Dyer, David Harbour, Schnapp and Jamie Campbell Bower for a panel moderated by Collider’s Perri Nemiroff. Members of the show’s creative team also took part in the discussion as the cast looked ahead to a final chapter that has been years in the making.
Schnapp’s comments landed as the show nears the end of a 10-year run that turned him from a child performer into one of the faces of a global franchise. He plays Will, whose story has been central to the series from the start, and he said he was no longer hesitant to bring his own thoughts to the creators who built the world around him.
He said the Duffer brothers did not answer many of his texts when he sent them ideas and pitches, joking that he could “pull up the receipts.” But when it came to one scene he believed the story needed, he said they were on board. Schnapp said the brothers supported his push for a meaningful moment between Will and Mike in Episode 8, after Will’s coming-out scene in Episode 7.
“I felt like there was needed closure between those two characters that people love so much together,” Schnapp said, pointing to the emotional thread that carried through the final stretch of the season. His remarks suggested that, even as the series reaches its end, the creative process on set still left room for the actors to shape how their characters land with viewers.
Matt Duffer said the bond behind the camera has deepened over the years. “It's 10 years that we've been doing this show, and everyone here has turned into our family, our extended family,” he said. He added, “We're really proud to have been there at the beginning to help jumpstart some of their careers, and give them their first opportunity, and then to have seen them grow as artists.”
That family feeling now comes with the pressure of closing out a series that became one of the defining successes of the streaming era. For Schnapp, the question is no longer whether his voice matters on set. Thursday’s panel made the answer plain: after a decade with Stranger Things, he is speaking up, and the creators are listening when it counts.
