Noah Schnapp, actor from popular Netflix series "Stranger Things," comes out as gay

American actor Noah Schnapp, who played the gay teenager Will Byers in Netflix’s Stranger Things, has come out as gay.

The 18-year-old actor wrote, "When I finally told my friends and family I was gay after being scared in the closet for 18 years and all they said was 'we know'" in a video posted to his TikTok account on Thursday. Schnapp then lip-synced to an audio clip from another TikTok of someone saying, "You know what it never was? That grave. Never was it that serious. In all honesty, it won't ever be that serious.

I suppose I'm more like Will than I imagined, Schnapp stated in the caption of his TikTok video. Will Byers is gay and in love with his best friend Mike, Schnapp revealed to Variety in July, following the release of the final two episodes of the fourth season of "Stranger Things" (Finn Wolfhard).

Since the premiere of "Stranger Things," there had been some uncertainty over Will's sexual orientation. Schnapp, though, had consistently brushed off inquiries concerning the character's identity by saying that it was "up to the audience's imagination." The creators of "Stranger Things," Matt and Ross Duffer, weren't totally clear on what they had in mind for Will, and once they were, Schnapp claimed he didn't want to give away how the fourth season of the show will explain the character's path.