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Following the finale of the iconic Stranger Things series the creators have defended criticism of one pivotal scene while Noah Schnapp has opened up about his personal journey leading to that moment.

The scene in question is Will Byers coming out scene, which saw the character finally come out to his friends and family about his sexuality.

Whilst it was a moving scene, fans have critically panned the episode and season online.

Stranger Things cops backlash for coming out scene

After five seasons Stranger Things has finally come to an end, but like many series finales, fans weren’t entirely happy with how things ended for everyone.

In particular when Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) sat down to come out, instead of celebration there was widespread criticism.

However the moment had been building for many years, with Schnapp revealing the character was gay back in July 2022.

A year later Schnapp himself came out as gay, in a recent interview Noah revealed his journey with the character over the years and how he felt their “stories there were intertwined.”

“I noticed how people, they really dive deeper into that sexual identity for him. And I saw people with such positive reactions to it” he .

“It definitely had an impact on me, like, ‘Oh, people don鈥檛 care as much as I used to think they did.’ It helped me in my own journey. I think having accepted it publicly before having done this scene, changed everything for me.”

However he revealed he struggled to separate the two for the actual scene itself.

“What I struggled with in the scene was I wanted to make sure I鈥檓 not coming out as Noah in 2023 on TikTok. This is Will coming out in 1987, or whatever year it is 鈥� it鈥檚 a totally different landscape, and you really have to separate the two as much as it was part of my own journey.”

However despite the positive journey leading up to the episode, the online reaction was different than he and the series creators expected.

Fuck it here鈥檚 the complete will byers stranger things coming out scene

鈥� oirovi (@bigfanofcops)

The Duffer Brothers reveal they did not expect the backlash

Despite the authenticity of the scene and fans knowing that the character was gay well in advance, that did stop fans of Stranger Things having a negative reaction.

Whilst the internet was initially flooded with some touching and positive reactions to the scene, things changed as the entire season finished airing.

Viewers flocked to review site Rotten Tomatoes to rate the series, with over 90,000 reviews for Wills coming out scene in episode 7, titled The Bridge, plummeting the episodes rating to 5.6, making it the lowest rated episode of the series.

Whilst some criticised the inclusion as perceived “wokeness” others were blatantly homophobic in their criticism.

The series creators, Ross and Matt Duffer spoke to about the importance of the scene and their reaction to the fan response.

鈥淭he coming out scene is something we鈥檝e been building to for nine years now. It was a really important scene for us, and a really important scene for Noah 鈥� not just from a thematic point of view, but also a narrative point of view,鈥� said Ross Duffer, echoing Schnapps sentiments.

Matt said the scene was 鈥渢he final step in Will鈥檚 journey, and Will is, in so many ways, the key to defeating Vecna.”

The scene is something he maintained they were proud to include in the series.

鈥淲e鈥檙e proud of the episode, and we鈥檙e proud of the scene, and proud of Noah, who gave a really brave, very vulnerable performance.鈥�

The pair were sensitive to Noah’s personal circumstances, revealing they have been keeping tabs on him following the airing of the episode.

鈥淥ur goal was to make sure that he was comfortable and happy with the scene. And when he was, we felt good about it. I鈥檝e been texting with him a lot, but texting with him specifically after that scene and after that episode aired. And he鈥檚 in a really good place.

The pair revealed that they were surprised at the backlash to the episode, especially after having spent so much time perfecting the important part of the narrative for so long.

Stranger Things series five is now available to stream on Netflix worldwide.