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Will Byers' coming out scene in Stranger Things season 5 is one of the most pivotal and emotionally impactful of the whole season, but it almost happened earlier in season 4 before the show's creators the Duffer brothers came to the decision to delay the development in order to put more time into establishing Will's sexuality.

"We were originally we're going to, it was going to happen in in season 4, and we realized as we got to those later episodes that we just hadn't given it enough time and space, we hadn't earned it, which is why I'm so glad that we didn't end up doing it in season 4," said series co-creator Ross Duffer during a live event with podcast Happy Sad Confused. "So when we built season 5, that was one of the first things we were talking about, is Will, bringing the story full circle, since he was the one that was first taken, and really seeing him come of age over the course of the season. And then of course tying in the powers is great, and also something we'd been building to for a while. So to do those at the same time was one of the moments, once we realized that, the season for us clicked into place. 

As fans well know, Will Byers was the first kid from Hawkins, Indiana taken into the Upside Down, with the end of season 1 foreshadowing a lingering connection to the sinister alt-dimension. In Stranger Things season 5, Will finally comes into his own not just by coming out, but also by finally harnessing that connection to summon his own powers.

All of that said, there was one fan ship that was never planned - the idea of a romantic connection between Mike and Will - which co-creator Matt Duffer said didn't feel true to the characters as they were established.

"No, I mean, no. It was never in the cards. The whole thing with the final season was like let's be, we wanted to focus on being as truthful as we could to the characters that we created from the beginning and do right by them and do right by the actors," Duffer explained.

Stranger Things may be done, but the Duffers aren't leaving the entire world they built behind, as they're already working on a still in-development spin-off series that will feature all new characters and stories without reprising the tale of the kids of Hawkins.

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