Did Stranger Things Really Keep Steve and Will Apart Until Season 5?

Stranger Things throws monsters, psychic kids, and dimension-hopping nightmares at us, but the strangest stat might be this: two of the show’s biggest characters basically never spoke to each other until season 5. Yes, Steve Harrington and Will Byers finally said actual words to each other in episode 3. Five seasons. Episode 3. I know.

Wait, Steve and Will had never talked?

Not in any real way. Fans dug through the show’s history and realized Steve (Joe Keery) and Will (Noah Schnapp) somehow kept orbiting the same plot without ever actually exchanging dialogue. And no, Hawkins is not exactly a sprawling metropolis.

There was one early season 3 moment that confused the issue: Steve lets the gang slip through the back of Scoops Ahoy so they can sneak into the theater. But that’s a group interaction — Steve talks to everyone, not Will specifically. So the technicality holds: no legit one-on-one until now.

'Five seasons in and Steve + Will still acting like coworkers on different shifts. I'm screaming.'

Some fans even tried to logic it out. The working theory: Jonathan can’t stand Steve, Will knows that, and Will’s been keeping his distance out of loyalty and self-preservation. Honestly, that tracks.

• Near-miss: Early season 3, group moment at Scoops Ahoy — Steve addresses the room, not Will.
• Actual first exchange: Season 5, episode 3 — the streak finally ends.
• Why it took so long (fan theory): Jonathan’s beef with Steve keeps Will away.
• State of the season: Volume 1 drops four episodes packed with goodbyes, big action, and some nasty scares — with one episode already spiking as the best-reviewed in the show’s history.

Point is, the new episodes finally put this weird little gap to bed, and the show promptly moves on to much bigger problems for the gang. Volume 1 is heavy on the stakes, the emotion, and the nightmare fuel — and if the early praise is any sign, one chapter might be the new high-water mark for Stranger Things.