Poor Will Byers has suffered many hardships in Stranger Things, with the Upside Down or with his friends, who left him deeply lonely. And a detail in season 4 of the Netflix series reinforces the young boy’s feeling of loneliness.
It all started with him Stranger Things. The Netflix series begins one evening in November 1983 in Hawkins, Indiana, with the disappearance of young Will Byers (Noah Schnapp), taken to the Upside Down. And since his return, the poor boy is still haunted by the horrors of this other universe. Above all, he has trouble finding his place with his friends.
And season 4 of Stranger Things, the first part of which has been available since May 27, proves it once again. These new episodes seem to indicate to us that Will is also struggling to be completely himself with his loved ones, and to reveal his homosexuality (and his love for Mike?). And this feeling of exclusion is reinforced by a sad detail spotted by fans and highlighted by Netflix.
Everyone forgot Will’s birthday!
In Episode 2, when Will, Mike (Finn Wolfhard) and Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) head to Rink-O-Mania to roller skate. On the dance floor, Eleven is harassed by Angela and filmed by her stalker’s friends. And the camera dates the day to March 22, 1986. You should know that March 22 is none other than Will’s birthday, as we learned in season 2 of the Netflix series.
Which means that his family and friends have completely forgotten his birthday… Poor Will has seen green and unripe ones in The Upside Down and at Hawkins and his entourage completely neglects him, to the point of not remembering his birthday. This information is already quite sad but it is even more so when we know that the creators of the series have also forgotten it!
Matt Duffer confessed in a recent interview for variety : “The honest answer is clearly, like the characters on the show, we also forgot about Will’s birthday. So the debate now is whether we adjust Will’s birthday or really leave out this sad information.”
And his brother Ross Duffer fears the reaction of the fans: “I almost wish you wouldn’t write our reply because forgetting her birthday is going to get us in trouble with the fans (laughs). I wrote that date down six years ago!”
netflix
During this interview, the Duffer brothers apologized for this mistake and explained that they have no one to verify this kind of information:
“You know, George RR Martin has someone – I mean, his story is bigger – and Stephen King also has someone who keeps track of this kind of information? We need that kind of person. We don’t have one, so Ross and I, even though my memory isn’t good, love Will, and I don’t want people to think we don’t love Will because we forgot – we do! “
They also explain that they will be careful in the future – especially since they mentioned Dustin’s birthday in this season 4 -, and that they may change Will’s birthday date to May 22. , which would be an illusion when Joyce (Winona Ryder) talks about Will’s birthday in season 2:
“Of course that would mean his mum forgot his birthday! That’s too mean. It was obviously a mistake, and we’re sorry about that. We apologize to the fans.”
Even if the Duffer brothers had a well-crafted plan over five seasons for Stranger Things, nothing escapes the fans, who have an eye open for this kind of detail. But this kind of error is not surprising with the delays and postponements suffered by season 4 of Stranger Things, which arrived three years after season 3, because of the pandemic.