Noah Schnapp reveals he ‘pushed’ for the Mike and Will best friend tower scene in Stranger Things Season 5 finale, fans say ‘he deserved more crumbs’
Noah Schnapp asked the Duffer Brothers to add a short but important Mike and Will radio tower scene in the Stranger Things Season 5 finale. It gave friendship closure after Will’s coming-out, but fans felt the climax rushed the scares. The moment landed emotionally, even as many said the story left questions.
Noah Schnapp asked the Duffer Brothers to add a short but important Mike and Will radio tower scene in the Stranger Things Season 5 finale (Credit: Netflix)The Stranger Things Season 5 finale dropped on Netflix on New Year’s Eve 2025. It was long, emotional, and heavy on expectations. The episode had big moments, big risks, and big conversations around what worked and what didn’t. Now, actor Noah Schnapp has revealed something important. One of the most talked-about scenes, a quiet exchange between Will and Mike on top of a radio tower, wasn’t in the original script. Schnapp personally asked for it. He wanted closure. He wanted the truth.
He wanted Mike to say something that felt real between them. The Duffers listened and added the moment late in production. It gave fans a final breath between the chaos. But the backlash over pacing and missing payoffs continues to trend. A finale that had heart, but also felt like it was sprinting to the finish line.
The tower scene exists because Noah asked
The red-lit radio tower moment shows Mike telling Will he loves him, but as a friend. Schnapp felt Will deserved a follow-up after coming out in Volume 2. He wanted their bond to feel honest, clear, and human. Schnapp later said in an interview, “I felt there wasn’t enough closure between them. That tower scene is short, but it shows Mike still loves him. That was important for Will.”
Fans say Will’s arc got the ‘rawest deal’
Many Byler supporters felt the ending was realistic, but also unfair. One user on X said, “Why does only the gay kid get realism and no romance? Why does everyone else get a full love arc except him? “. Another wrote, “It’s frustrating that Noah had to ask for even a tiny scene. That shows how rushed the script really was.”
Others think the moment saved Will’s emotional finish
Not everyone hated the choice. Some found the platonic ending honest and touching. One user on X said, “Not getting romance isn’t the tragedy. He still got love, clarity, and friendship. That’s a real ending too.”
Another wrote, “Every time something in the show actually makes sense, you check Twitter and realise Noah pushed for it.” Even fans who loved the cast admitted the finale felt fast. The Vecna fight was short for a final boss. Earlier soldier deaths felt forgotten in the epilogue.
Stranger Things Finale: Millie Bobby Brown, Noah Schnapp and More Share Touching Spoiler-Filled Behind-the-Scenes Pics
The show’s epic conclusion dropped on Netflix on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025
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NEED TO KNOW
- Millie Bobby Brown and Noah Schnapp shared new Instagram posts on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025
- Brown and Schnapp offered behind-the-scenes glimpses of filming the final season of Stranger Things without spoiling the ending
- Schnapp starred as Will Byers while Brown starred as Eleven “Jane” Hopper during the hit Netflix show’s nearly decade long run
Stranger Things has concluded, and the cast are reflecting on how the hit sci-fi show turned their world upside down.
The finale of Stranger Things hit Netflix on the evening of Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025. On that same evening, Millie Bobby Brown, who starred as the telekinetic Eleven “Jane” Hopper, shared a black-and-white photo of herself on location alongside Ross and Matt Duffer, the series creators. “over and out,” Brown, 21, captioned the post.
Noah Schnapp, who stars as Will Byers, the missing kid who sets the show in motion, shared a series of behind-the-scenes photos with cast and crew in an Instagram post on Wednesday. “The end :),” Schnapp captioned the post.
In the photos, Schnapp, 21, sits alongside castmates Finn Wolfhard (who plays Mike Wheeler), Sadie Sink (who plays May Mayfield), Caleb McLaughlin (who plays Lucas Sinclair) and Gaten Matarazzo (who plays Dustin Henderson) on the curb between takes. Another photo shows the five cast members attending their fictional Hawkins High School graduation in orange robes and graduation caps, with a banner in the distance that reads “Congratulations, Class of ’89.”
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In a polaroid photo, Wolfhard, 23; McLaughlin, 24; Sink, 23, and Schnapp pose in their 1980s clothes on set. Other photos show Schnapp hugging castmate Natalia Dyer, posing with crew members between filming and a group of letters Schnapp addressed to the Duffer brothers and the cast.
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Schnapp shared on Good Morning America in December that he and the cast — including Wolfhard, McLaughlin, Sink and Matarazzo — had plans to watch the last episode together. On finale night, Cara Buono, who played Karen Wheeler, shared behind-the-scenes snaps from the theater in an Instagram post that showed Joe Keery (who plays Steve Harrington), Natalia Dyer (who plays Nancy Wheeler), Charlie Heaton (who plays Jonathan Byers) and Maya Hawke (who plays Robin Buckley) were also present for the screening.
Brown did not join her costars at the Paris Theater in New York City on Friday, Dec. 26, when they came together to view the series’ final episode, a source told PEOPLE.
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The insider said Brown was “still home” with a dislocated shoulder, referring to an injury she announced earlier this month when she explained her absence from GMA. “I’m really sorry I couldn’t be there with you guys. I took a fall,” Millie said in a clip shared with show where she wore a black sling over her shoulder. “Still, I wanted to participate in any way I could.”
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Despite not attending the viewing, Brown still “got a link to watch it at the same time” as her castmates, the source added.
Stranger Things, which premiered in 2016, follows a group of people in a fictional Indiana town in the 1980s that suddenly find themselves battling mysterious forces when Will Byers (Schnapp) is kidnapped by an unknown force and dragged into a parallel dimension, referred to as the Upside Down. The mysterious Eleven (Brown), who has telekinetic abilities, escapes a nearby lab and becomes an unexpected hero.
Stranger Things is streaming now on Netflix.
