Did Noah Schnapp Just Leak the Big Season 5 Death in Stranger Things?

Stranger Things is finally wrapping up, and fans are already bracing for heartbreak. The running bet? Will Byers, the kid this whole saga started with, might be the one who does not make it out of Season 5. The fandom did not dream this up out of nowhere either — there is a breadcrumb trail of quotes, trailers, and premiere footage that points straight at Will being the key to how it all ends.

The Will theory: why everyone is staring at Hawkins' most cursed kid

Speculation caught fire after Noah Schnapp casually told Millie Bobby Brown:

"But one of us will die."

That line sent Reddit spiraling and fan polls have been pointing to Will as the likeliest final-season casualty. It also fits the show’s habit of looping back to where it all began.

Season 5 wastes no time with that. The premiere opens on a flashback to November 1983: a de-aged Noah Schnapp, alone in the Upside Down version of Castle Byers, singing The Clash’s Should I Stay or Should I Go. A Demogorgon crashes in and hauls him off, leaving him unconscious. It is a deliberate reset to day one — and the Duffers have said that is the point.

"We reveal really everything about the Upside Down, all of which was planned out in Season 1."

That is Matt Duffer talking to Entertainment Weekly. He also said this season loops back to the show’s original DNA and finally answers two questions that have been hanging since the pilot: what the Upside Down actually is, and why Will was taken in the first place.

Quick refresher on why Will is different: most people who encountered the monsters got killed. Will was taken — and he stayed connected. He can feel Vecna’s presence. In Season 2, he literally functioned as the creature’s eyes and ears after getting stuck in those tunnels under Hawkins. That connection has never really gone away.

• The Season 5 premiere reopens Will’s original disappearance with that Castle Byers flashback and Demogorgon attack.
• Matt Duffer says this year answers the big two: "What is the Upside Down, truly?" and "Why was Will taken?"
• Will’s link to Vecna is unique — others died, Will was kept tethered. In Season 2 he even served as a spy for the thing beneath Hawkins.
• In the new trailer, Vecna levitates Will and tells him: "You are going to help me one last time." That "one last time" wording matters — it implies Will has already helped him before, possibly since 1983.
• Noah Schnapp told Forbes that "the story started with Will, and it’ll end with Will," and said Will learns to accept who he is this season. He did not confirm whether Will dies.

Read between the lines and it is pretty clear the final mystery is not just about beating Vecna — it is about what happens to Will when that connection is finally severed. Whether that means a heroic sacrifice or a narrow escape is the part Netflix is happy to let you argue about for three more weeks.

The off-screen drama that flared up days before the premiere

Because nothing Stranger Things-related can happen quietly, there was also a messy bit of pre-release noise. On November 1, 2025, the Daily Mail ran a story claiming Millie Bobby Brown filed a formal harassment complaint against David Harbour ahead of Season 5. Per that report: the complaint was filed in January 2024, Netflix investigated for several months, there were no allegations of sexual misconduct, and Brown allegedly had a legal advisor on set during filming.

Fast-forward to the world premiere on November 6, 2025, and the team did damage control by basically acting like a family on the red carpet. Brown and Harbour arrived together, laughed, hugged, posed — the whole thing looked intentionally warm. Brown told Extra TV that the run has been "amazing," that they are lucky to have each other, and that the past decade of their lives has been poured into this show as they get ready to share the ending.

Executive producer Shawn Levy also pushed back on the narrative at the premiere, telling The Hollywood Reporter that there has been a lot of noise and misinformation swirling. His headline point:

"We view this crew and this cast as family, and so we treat each other with respect, and that’s always been bedrock."

Here is the clearer picture: Netflix’s investigation did not confirm any wrongdoing. The Duffers denied the claims. The timing — five days before the premiere — stirred up a brief controversy, but it cooled off quickly once the cast showed a united front on the carpet.

So... does Will make it?

The premiere’s opening, the trailers, and the Duffers’ comments all suggest Will’s fate is the spine of the final season. Whether he walks away or goes out stopping Vecna is the question the show is saving for last — which is exactly where Stranger Things started in the first place.

Stranger Things Season 5 drops November 26, 2025. Place your bets now, but keep tissues handy.