Noah Schnapp has gone public with his new boyfriend on Instagram – three years after coming out as gay.
The 21-year-old actor – who is known for portraying the role of Will Byers in Netflix’s Stranger Things – jumped to his Instagram stories on Wednesday to share an image as he cozied up to a mystery man.
The snap was taken from behind the pair as they looked out at the city landscape while standing on a rooftop.
In text added over the picture, Schnapp simply penned to his followers: ‘One month of us,’ followed by a red heart emoji.
The star has yet to share the identity of his new boyfriend – with the relationship news occurring a little over three years after he came out as gay in January 2023.
At the time, Schnapp had uploaded a video to TikTok and 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.”‘
Noah Schnapp, 21, has gone public with his new boyfriend on Instagram – three years after coming out as gay; seen in March in Beverly Hills
The Stranger Things actor jumped to his Instagram stories on Wednesday to share an image as he cozied up to a mystery man
And in the reel, he mouthed the words to a woman’s voice who said: ‘You know it never was that serious, it was never that serious, quite frankly we will never be that serious.’
The actor also added, ‘I guess I’m more similar to Will Byers than I thought!’
Back in 2022, Schnapp had confirmed that his Stranger Things character was gay and in love with on-screen best friend Mike Wheeler.
‘Obviously, it was hinted at in Season 1: It was always kind of there, but you never really knew, is it just him growing up slower than his friends?’ the star previously told Variety.
‘Now that he’s gotten older, they made it a very real, obvious thing. Now it’s 100% clear that he is gay and he does love Mike. But before, it was a slow arc.’
He added that it had been ‘done so beautifully, because it’s so easy to make a character just like all of a sudden be gay.’
During the fifth and final season of the hit series which dropped late last year, Schnapp’s character officially came out as gay.
He later defended the five-minute scene as some viewers labeled it as ‘woke’ and out of place in the episode titled The Bridge.
The star has yet to share the identity of his new boyfriend – with the relationship news occurring a little over three years after he came out as gay in January 2023
Back in 2022, Schnapp had confirmed that his Stranger Things character was gay and in love with on-screen best friend Mike Wheeler; seen in 2025 in NYC
He later defended the five-minute scene as some viewers labeled it as ‘woke’ and out of place in the episode titled The Bridge
Schnapp expressed to The Hollywood Reporter that the script had been ‘perfect’ and added that ‘no part of that scene felt forced or produced’ for his character.
‘Part of that was how much I spent preparing, and part of that was my cast and how gracious they were.’
He also recalled, ‘But watching it back onscreen and getting to see everyone’s reactions was really sweet and emotional for me.’
The actor talked about reading the scene out loud with his fellow castmates for the first time and explained that ‘it was a little bit of a weight off my chest.’
Schnapp then gave insight into how he prepared to film the scene.
‘I reread a lot of coming-out texts that I had sent when I was going through it myself, and scrolled in my camera roll, looking through pictures at that time of my life when I was coming to terms with that.’
The star continued, ‘But trying to stay in it was hard, and it was the middle of the night too, so it was exhausting.’
Schnapp had also opened up about the support he received after coming out as gay in 2023.
He recalled the moment he told his co-star Millie Bobby Brown about his sexuality.
Schnapp expressed to The Hollywood Reporter that the script had been ‘perfect’ and added that ‘no part of that scene felt forced or produced’ for his character; seen in 2022 in Santa Monica
‘So then I just FaceTimed her one day in the middle of a Party City and I was like, “Millie, I’m gay.” And she was like, “Oh, Schnapper! You told me finally!”‘ he recalled; seen in 2025 in London
‘I kept trying to do it in person with her, and it was too hard,’ Schnapp told Variety.
‘So then I just FaceTimed her one day in the middle of a Party City and I was like, “Millie, I’m gay.” And she was like, “Oh, Schnapper! You told me finally!”‘
The star also explained how his Stranger Things character had helped him to come out.
‘Once I did fully embrace that Will was gay, it was just an exponential speed towards accepting it for myself.’
He added, ‘I would be in a completely different place if I didn’t have Will to portray, and to embrace and help me accept myself. I think if I never played that character, I probably would still be closeted.’
Schnapp had been one of the main cast members of Stranger Things since its premiere in 2016.
‘I will never forget that last day and how that last scene felt – it was just so surreal,’ he told the Los Angeles Times of the show’s end.
‘The goodbye was hard. I grappled with this feeling like my life is over and I’m in a crisis, this is my whole identity and all I’ve ever known, and now it’s ending.’
‘The goodbye was hard. I grappled with this feeling like my life is over and I’m in a crisis, this is my whole identity and all I’ve ever known, and now it’s ending,’ Schnapp said
But when questioned if he would ever step back into the shoes of Will Byers, the actor replied, ‘I think my work is done with that character. The story for him has been told’
He also shared what he would be interested in doing next in terms of his acting career.
‘I’d love to do theater. I loved doing that as a kid and want to explore that. And do other films. But no set path, I’m just excited for what’s next.’
But when questioned if he would ever step back into the shoes of Will Byers, the actor replied, ‘I think my work is done with that character. The story for him has been told.
‘So if that ever happened, I would honestly probably stay away from that,’ he added, before expressing he would ‘love to work with the Duffers again on another project.’
Read the full article here
