This season, we read the first six episodes together, and I was like “OK, it didn’t happen yet, so it’s going to be in Episode 7 or 8,” which hadn’t been written yet. They could have gone and sat in Video Village or hung out, but they all sat there in their spots through the whole day. I didn’t expect to have such trouble letting go of her on that last day.
I don’t really remember anyone’s reactions, but watching it back, it was nice to see.
Those speculations seemed to be confirmed, though never explicitly stated, in Season 4 when Will breaks down trying to profess his feelings toward Mike. It was nice to get to work with them and they were so cute.
How are you gonna write it?” Eventually, they said they had it, and I read it by the end of the year in August or September. The coming out monologue is Schnapp’s most emotionally intense and verbose in the series. I’ll never forget how supportive they were on that day and how respectful and giving they were to me, because they had to sit there through an entire night just hearing me ramble.
But then on the day, I was able to explore the feelings and emotions, and it was fun to have those 12 hours to play and feel. And while he shared his friends’ affinity for playing Dungeons & Dragons, biking around town and geeking out on the latest pop-culture, fantasy or scientific phenomenon of the show’s 1980s setting, Will disappeared during the very first episode, setting the wide-eyed, bowl-cutted boy apart from the group.
It was really special. It was perfect.
Did you get the opportunity to workshop the script with the Duffers or with Shawn Levy, who directed “The Bridge” with the Duffers? Even with the coming out scene, having that much dialogue and actually getting to express myself through my words, which this character has never really done until then, was so nice.
A lot of those scenes you share with Winona Ryder.
What was it like to now have new rising actors on set who might have looked up to you? I didn’t want to let her go, and I realized she really became this motherly figure to me at work during these 10 years.
You also share a lot of scenes with Maya Hawke this Season. I got advice from Maya on how to prepare for it, because there were so many lines, more lines than I’d ever had before.
It pays off on Will’s arc toward self-acceptance and assurance.
There were so many different choices in the different takes. You always feel like you don’t know anything and you have so much more to learn, but then it makes you realize that we’ve spent 10 years here, and we do have some experience now.