Stranger Things: Millie Bobby Brown, Charlie Heaton, Noah Schnapp, and Finn Wolfhard – Courtesy: Netflix
Netflix’s Stranger Things is facing backlash from viewers after writers devoted the show’s penultimate episode to a storyline in which Will Byers, played by Noah Schnapp, comes out as gay.
In part because of the negative reaction to the coming-out storyline — which appears in the third of three episodes released on Christmas — Season 5 is now the show’s lowest-rated season, earning a 56% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
The episode itself, “The Bridge,” is the lowest-rated of the entire series on IMDb, with a 5.4 score. All other episodes in Season 5 are rated 8.0 or higher.
After the three episodes comprising Volume 2 of Season 5 dropped, fans tore into the series on social media, faulting the penultimate episode — and the season overall — for sloppy writing, repetitive plotting, uneven performances, and an overreliance on dialogue at the expense of action.
“Stranger Things has genuinely become so fucking stupid. Terrible plot. Terrible cliche lazy writing. Terrible acting. Why am I wasting my time with this shit,” wrote one fan on X.
Stranger Things has genuinely become so fucking stupid. Terrible plot. Terrible cliche lazy writing. Terrible acting. Why am I wasting my time with this shit pic.twitter.com/rMvatVWypr
Much of the negativity, however, centered on Will’s coming-out storyline, with some viewers accusing the series of embracing “woke” ideas that they argued spoiled the experience, and others dismissing the plotline as unnecessary and distracting from the show’s larger arc, including the buildup to a final confrontation with Vecna, the series’ primary antagonist.
“How did Stranger Things go from such a great show to the only way they could defeat Vecna is if Will tells everyone he’s gay first,” one X user complained.
How did Stranger Things go from such a great show to the only way they could defeat Vecna is if Will tells everyone he’s gay first
“Woke ruins EVERYTHING,” another user tweeted. “Netflix decided to RUIN their most popular show of all-time, Stranger Things, by focusing their final season on Will coming out as a homosexual, promoting the propaganda that Will’s superpowers are because he’s ’embraced his sexuality’ & the villain telling Will that his friends won’t like him if they find out he likes dudes.”
Woke ruins EVERYTHING…
Netflix decided to RUIN their most popular show of all-time, Stranger Things, by focusing their final season on Will coming out as a homosexual, promoting the propaganda that Will’s superpowers are because he’s “embraced his sexuality” & the villain… pic.twitter.com/bYp1XtbXor
“The Will coming out scene may be the worst in the entirety of ST. Making that the most important plot point for the penultimate episode of the show is such a waste. Plus it was super cringy too. A hard watch,” lamented a third. “And it doesn’t make any sense. [I know] it’s important to Will’s character, but doing it in front of like 15 people in the middle of an apocalypse wasting everyone’s time when he could’ve just told Joyce…just stupid. There’s bigger fish to fry guys.”
⚠️ Stranger Things Spoilers ⚠️
Btw the Will coming out scene may be the worst in the entirety of ST. Making that the most important plot point for the penultimate episode of the show is such a waste. Plus it was super cringy too. A hard watch…#StrangerThings5#StrangerThingspic.twitter.com/by6RF9MpZk
During a recent interview with Netflix’s Tudum, Schnapp, who is gay, said he was “crying” after reading the script for Will’s coming-out scene — a sharp contrast to the largely negative reaction from viewers.
“I read it alone in my room, and I was crying, and it really resonated with me,” Schnapp said. “I texted them [the creators], and I was like, ‘This is great. This is awesome.’ I didn’t know if they were ever gonna write that story for Will. They could have just left it up in the air, so getting to finally see it happen was amazing.”
The two-hour series finale of Stranger Things drops on Netflix at 8 p.m. on Dec. 31, with select theatrical screenings also planned.
In a political shakeup, former U.S. Rep. Colin Allred (D-Texas), the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in 2024, has exited the 2026 Senate race and will instead run for the U.S. House of Representatives -- setting up a high-stakes primary showdown with his successor, out lesbian U.S. Rep. Julie Johnson.
Allred had been one of two Democrats, along with State Rep. James Talarico (D-Austin), seeking to challenge incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn. Either Democrat faced an uphill climb in a state that has grown more conservative after briefly appearing to trend Democratic about a decade ago.
Brock McGillis, the first openly gay professional hockey player, told PinkNews that he "wholeheartedly" disagrees with the idea that HBO’s Heated Rivalry will encourage more hockey players to come out.
McGillis, 42, played in the Ontario Hockey League and United Hockey League during a nine-year professional career from 2001 to 2010 and came out publicly in 2016. While he now advocates for greater LGBTQ inclusion in hockey, McGillis said the series -- which has drawn attention for its steamy gay sex scenes -- is just as likely to keep gay players closeted.
Right-wing commentators and influencers are raging over New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani's selection of Lillian Bonsignore, an out lesbian, as the next commissioner of the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY).
The 56-year-old Bonsignore will become only the second woman in the department's history to lead the FDNY once Mamdani takes office in January. Her appointment has been endorsed by three unions representing New York City firefighters, FDNY officers, and medics.
In typical fashion, conservative scolds have asserted that Bonsignore's appointment is a form of DEI -- diversity, equity, and inclusion -- hiring, citing it as an example of how left-wing politicians allegedly prioritize personal identity over merit.
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