Stranger Things Star Noah Schnapp Keeps Getting Mistaken for a Beloved Wizard

Stranger Things is heading into the home stretch, and Noah Schnapp is out doing the talk show rounds. Along the way, he dropped a pretty great confession: every now and then, people think he is Daniel Radcliffe. Yes, as in Harry Potter. Honestly, I get it.

The mix-up that will not die

Schnapp, now 21, told Jimmy Fallon that the mistaken-identity thing tends to happen when he is flying solo. When the full cast is around, the vibe goes straight to chaos, but alone, he apparently reads as Boy Who Lived-adjacent to a surprising number of folks.

On The Tonight Show, he said it ramped up recently: it happened three times last year, which was new for him. Some write-ups have pegged the count as at least three times in 2024. Either way, it has been a recurring thing.

His go-to response when a fan tells him they love his 'show' and then starts gushing about Hogwarts?

'Oh, wrong franchise.'

Fallon asked if people really think he is Harry Potter, and Schnapp said yeah, the conversation often goes exactly like that.

Why it kind of makes sense

Even they admitted there is a little crossover energy. Fallon and Schnapp joked about the parallels between 'The Boy Who Lived' and Will Byers' 'Zombie Boy' era. When you think about where Will’s story goes in the new batch of episodes, the comparison lands even better.

A small behind-the-scenes flex

Schnapp (you might also know him from the indie film Abe) said the Duffer Brothers were very willing to let him step behind the camera for a scene with a young Will. Not a full episode, but still a cool milestone for someone who started this show as a kid.

Stranger Things Season 5 rollout

• Vol. 1: Four episodes, streaming now on Netflix as of November 26
• Vol. 2: Three more episodes drop on Christmas
• Finale: A two-hour closer arrives on New Year’s Eve