Stranger Things, which recently aired its fourth season just this last summer, has never been afraid to get dark. The series premiere kicked off with the disappearance of Will Byers (Noah Schnapp), who spent the entire first season trapped in the monstrous, parasitic mirror dimension known as the Upside Down. Season 2 saw Will become possessed by what was thought to be the head of the hive mind in the Upside Down, the Mind Flayer.
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The writers of Stranger Things (tweeting from their appropriately-named Stranger Writers account) revealed the experience was almost much worse than what ended up happening. While Will suffered through the possession, he ultimately ended up alright. The writers, however, abruptly tweeted out, “Crazy shit that almost happened #1: In season 2, a possessed Will was going to kill Bob.”
For fans needing a refresher, “Bob” refers to Sean Astin’s Bob Newby, the new boyfriend of Winona Ryder’s Joyce Byers in Stranger Things season 2. Bob is ultimately done in by the demodogs when they siege Hawkins Lab, and Joyce is devastated. It appears the original idea was that Will would do the job himself. Ultimately, this would have been an ironic fate for Bob: while intending to give Will some helpful advice about what he thinks are mundane nightmares, his words accidentally lead to Will being possessed in the first place.
The change probably would have radically altered Will’s plot over the next two seasons. While Will is depressed, emotional, and traumatized in Stranger Things seasons 3 and 4 by the events that occur over seasons 1 and 2, he may have been left permanently scarred by taking the life of his mother’s boyfriend, someone who was ultimately a good person and entirely innocent, only drawn into the supernatural happenings around Hawkins by an incidental encounter with them, much like Will himself.
Will is a character who has suffered a lot, so maybe the change was for the better. It may have been a step too far in breaking the character, who’s probably one of the most traumatized characters of the show behind Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown). Will’s character is set to take on a bigger role in Stranger Things season 5, and perhaps this tidbit hints that the writers are not through making him go through the wringer just yet.
Stranger Things seasons 1-4 are available to stream on Netflix.
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Source: Stranger Writers/Twitter
