Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard made his debut as a Saturday Night Live host this weekend and featured in a scathing spoof of the show that made him a child star.
Fans of Stranger Things were left groaning with exasperation when the final episodes dropped on Netflix last month, including a widely derided scene of Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) coming out of the closet to his loved ones as gay.
Viewers mocked the scene for dragging on across more than five minutes, and for the fact Will apparently decided that the time to handle a personal announcement was right as he and his friends were facing a major battle.
One viral meme even claimed that the recent U.S. raid on Venezuela - which resulted in the abduction of its president Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores - lasted less time than it took for Will to come out.
On this week's Saturday Night Live, Wolfhard starred in a sketch about the future lives of Stranger Things characters after the events of the 1980s-set show.
Wolfhard and his co-stars Gaten Matarazzo and Caleb McLaughlin were seen meeting for drinks as their characters in 1990s New York City - but Will was absent because, a narrator explained, 'his coming out scene is still going on.'
The last episodes of Stranger Things dropped on Netflix last month, including a widely derided scene of Will Byers (Noah Schnapp, center) coming out of the closet to his loved ones as gay.
Will, played by Saturday Night Live regular cast member Jeremy Culhane, was then seen burbling endlessly to his friends about his identity.
'Guys, I'm gay. I need the courage to tell you the truth, and the truth is I'm ga...zing at all of your faces,' he said, his voice cracking with emotion. 'And you should know that I like D...and D, Dungeons and Dragons, just like you guys!'
Noah Schnapp, who played Will, announced his real-life homosexuality on TikTok in 2023 to a chorus of support from fans and co-stars like Wolfhard.
Two years later, when his character's coming out scene came in for widespread criticism, Schnapp staunchly defended the viral moment.
'No part of that scene felt forced or produced,' he insisted in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter when asked about his personal connection to the material.
'Part of that was how much I spent preparing, and part of that was my cast and how gracious they were. But watching it back onscreen and getting to see everyone's reactions was really sweet and emotional for me,' he said.
He added that he became 'teary' watching how Will's older brother Jonathan Byers, played by Charlie Heaton, reacted tot he news.
'After we cut, I remember hugging Charlie for real and crying, and it all felt so real,' added Schnapp, who earned $7 million for the show's last season.
Saturday Night Live included a sketch about Stranger Things characters years later, not including Will 'because his coming out scene is still going on' (the real scene is pictured)
Will, played by Saturday Night Live regular cast member Jeremy Culhane, was then seen burbling endlessly to his friends about his identity
'I need the courage to tell you the truth, and the truth is I'm ga...zing at all of your faces,' he said, his voice cracking with emotion
The coming out takes place on the second-to-last episode The Bridge, which dropped Christmas Day, nearly a week before the series finale on New Year's Eve.
When Schnapp received the screenplay for the episode containing his character's coming out, he 'read it alone and just cried and I was like: "It's perfect,"' he said.
When he acted the scene with his co-stars, he felt 'a weight off my chest reading that scene aloud with everyone. I felt like: "Ok, I can do this."'
Will turns out to have a crush on Finn Wolfhard's character Mike Wheeler, but the characters never become romantically involved.