Noah Schnapp's character in Stranger Things – the introverted, D&D-loving Will Byers – has gone through a hell of a lot over the course of the great Netflix original series' four-season run, but one thing has remained consistent: his hairstyle. He has survived weeks in the Upside Down, being possessed by the Mind Flayer, and much more, but no amount of chaos or trauma has apparently inspired a pivot away from the classic bowl cut.
As you might imagine, it's not something that Schnapp has particularly loved returning to each time he has started filming a new slate of episodes, but it was something that creators Matt and Ross Duffer evidently insisted on him keeping.
The bowl cut (which Noah Schnapp has expressed ire toward before) came up in a recent Insider interview, and the actor explained that he repeatedly went to Duffer brothers hinting at his desire for Will Byers to get something else going on top of his head. Each time, however, he has been rebuffed, and he doesn't expect things to change any time soon. Said Schnapp,
I’ve talked to them so many times like, ’Hey, are we thinking about a new cut for Will? There’s one more season left, but they’re pretty loyal to that cut. I think it is a true kind of ’80s classic haircut. So I don’t think we’re gonna lose it anytime soon.
But is it really a "true kind of '80s classic haircut"? According to Noah Schnapp, that's the excuse that's given by Matt and Ross Duffer to keep Will Byers with his familiar 'do, but over time that's something that the actor has come to question – with some influence coming from his parents, who were apparently teenagers during the 20th century's penultimate decade:
That’s what they say, but then I talked to my parents and they lived in the ’80s. They said they weren’t 16 with that haircut, so I don’t know.
He may have a point. Bowl cuts were definitely popular at a time during the 20th century, but it was more of a 1960's thing that was particularly influenced by the style sported by the beloved members of The Beatles. It's never come up on Stranger Things, but maybe Winona Ryders' Joyce Byers is quietly a controlling Beatlemaniac who insists that her son never stop paying tribute to their greatness with his hair.
Approximately six years after we were first introduced to Will Byers, Stranger Things fans can continue to witness the power of the bowl cut with the new run of episodes that just arrived this past Friday. All you need is a Netflix subscription to start watching immediately... though you may want to make sure you have some holes in your schedule, as the episodes are very long.
To discover all of the other shows on the horizon for the streaming service, check out our 2022 Netflix TV schedule.
