Vecna actor Jamie Campbell Bower has said that he wanted Stranger Things season 5 to pit Will Byers against the villain, and he is right about this potential pairing. A lot is riding on Stranger Things 5, the final season of the Netflix hit show. While Stranger Things season 3 was an inconsistent outing that overstuffed the show’s cast and threw in too many moments of broad humor, Stranger Things 4 was a more cohesive, clever return to form that made the story of the series a lot clearer, darker, and smarter.
However, that doesn’t mean that Stranger Things season 4 fixed every issue with the show. Most notably, Mike, Jonathan, and Will’s shared storyline went nowhere since the trio were stranded miles from the rest of the cast and stuck without anything to do. While Stranger Things season 5 shouldn’t repeat this mistake now that the gang is all back together in one location, the series does still need to prioritize the story of Will Byers.
Will was the original POV character of Stranger Things and even loaned his name to the show’s pilot, as “The Vanishing of Will Byers” was the mysterious occurrence that set the events of Stranger Things in motion. As such, it makes sense that Vecna actor Jamie Campbell Bower said he wants to see Stranger Things season 5 explore the relationship between his villainous character and Will Byers more, and he’s right that this is the best story for Stranger Things to pursue. Will is the brains of the Stranger Things kids, making him well suited to battling Vecna via their psychic link, but he is also a criminally under-explored character who deserves more story focus as evidenced by the enthusiastic reaction to Noah Schnapp’s scene-stealing turn in Stranger Things season 4.
Jamie Campbell Bower’s Comments On Will Vs Vecna
On the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Jamie Campbell Bower said “I would really love to see a journey between Vecna and Will. I do think there is unfinished business there between the two of them. I am a huge fan of this show, and I know from sort of skulking around on the internet there are people suggesting that we may have seen Vecna in season 1... And I would love to kind of explore that relationship with Will purely.” Bower is correct to note that numerous fans theories are circulating online that suggest Will Byers will play a major role in defeating Vecna in Stranger Things 5, something that season 4 hinted at when he was the only one to piece together Vecna’s plan in the series finale. However, Will’s character also deserves more focus on a character level, which a showdown against Vecna can also provide.
Why Stranger Things 5 Must Revisit Will & Vecna
Even before the series introduced Eleven, Stranger Things was Will’s story. Since the opening scenes of the pilot, Stranger Things has followed Will’s battle against the Upside Down, and, while Stranger Things season 4’s choice to sideline Mike and company wasn’t ideal, this did give viewers room to remember just how central Will’s story is to Stranger Things as a whole. When Will tearfully broke down while talking to Mike, the scene drew attention to just how much Will is still the human center of Stranger Things, whether he is trying to keep the groups of increasingly distant friends together in season 3 or imploring Eleven to be her real self with Mike in season 4. For him to be left out of the final fight with Vecna would not do the character justice.
How Stranger Things 4 Set Up Will Vs Vecna
In the Stranger Things season 4 finale’s closing scenes, Will is seemingly the only one who appreciates how much Eleven’s despondency over her loss empowers Vecna. Will has a psychic connection to the villain, but he is also the sharpest member of the group and their best strategist when it comes to planning a big battle—like the final season’s face-off against Vecna. There is a reason he is their dungeon master and, with Joseph Quinn’s tragic Stranger Things season 4 hero Eddie Munson dead, Will is the best chance that the group has when it comes to planning an effective defense against Vecna.
Will Deserves Better In Stranger Things 5
Will’s journey in Stranger Things has been a series of promising starts and disappointing ends. In season 1, his disappearance was central to the plot, but in season 2, Stranger Things struggled to reintegrate him into the core cast after his absence. In Stranger Things season 3, his frustration with growing apart from the group was moving, but he didn’t have a role to play in the story. Notably, during the chaotic ending of Stranger Things season 3, Mike and Will don’t have much to do while Dustin, Eleven, Max, and Lucas all played a part in the drama, foreshadowing their thin season 4 non-story.
In Stranger Things season 4, Noah Schnapp’s performance was one of the strongest in the show’s history, but Stranger Things stopped short of really focusing on his arc—something that Stranger Things season 5’s focus on Vecna can fix. Now growing into adulthood, Will is on the cusp of living as a gay man in 1980s America. That is a unique position in history and one that remains underrepresented in mainstream media that has done little to address the realities of the AIDS epidemic, the era’s widespread bigotry, and its commonplace discrimination. While fighting the supernatural killer Vecna may not seem like it would facilitate worthwhile queer representation in Stranger Things 5, the final season of the series actually has a huge opportunity to cast an already well-loved character as the hero of his own story.
Stranger Things has danced around the question of Will’s orientation in a noncommittal fashion for years now (despite Robin’s coming out scene in season 3), and both the character and the show’s huge fan base deserve better. Giving Will the chance to play a part in defeating the evil that plagues Hawkins would allow Stranger Things to tell the story of a gay hero taking on insurmountable odds and succeeding thanks to his strong network of loving, supportive friends. That is a story that has proven all too rare even in an era of 80s nostalgia and increasing LGBTQ+ representation, and it is one that Stranger Things 5 owes its viewers.