It turns out that
But in Season 2, Joyce (Winona Ryder) mentions that March 22 is her son Will's birthday. Nobody acknowledges or celebrates Will's birthday in Season 4, but it would be out of character for his mother and all of his friends to completely forget Will's birthday.
The duo suggested changing Will's birthday to make it seem like it was May 22 with some slick editing tricks. “Because 'May' can fit in Winona's mouth,” Matt Duffer told Variety of the season-two scene where Joyce says the date of Will's birthday. “So that would be us George Lucas–ing the situation.”
In an interview with Variety, however, they said that they were going to retcon Will's birthday to save him from the pain of having his friends forget the day of his birth. “It's too sad!” Matt Duffer told Variety about keeping Will's birthday as-is. “And it doesn't make any narrative sense.
Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), Mike (Finn Wolfhard), and Will (Noah Schnapp) visit a roller rink on March 22, which was identified as Will's birthday in season 2. Will was largely ignored during the trio's visit roller rink, third-wheeling on a date between Mike and Eleven, making the mistake incredibly sad.
That means that Will wasn't only a third wheel to Eleven and Mike that day — he was completely forgotten and dismissed by his friends. It turns out that Eleven and Mike weren't the only ones who forgot Will's birthday.
Now that Stranger Things season 4 has confirmed not only Will's queerness, but also his unrequited love for Mike, it's certainly interesting to look at their relationship in retrospect.
Born March 22, 1971, Will is the son of Joyce and Lonnie Byers, and the younger brother of Jonathan Byers. As a child, Will was quite compassionate of others, giving a crying little girl in the sandbox at the playground his Tonka Truck, despite him knowing his mother couldn't afford to buy another one for him.
The events at the roller rink were originally said to take place on March 22, which is also Will Byers birthday as mentioned in season 2.
The go-to late birthday greeting contains the phrase “happy birthday” and the word belated. It comes up in two variants—happy belated birthday, and belated happy birthday. One of the two might be more commonly used in the United States, and funnily enough, it's the one that's not exactly logical—happy belated birthday.
They also insisted that the mishap wasn't personal. "Of course that would mean his mom forgot his birthday! It's too mean," Ross Duffer said. "It was obviously a mistake, and we're sorry.
While it could be surmised that everyone just forgot (however mean that is), the Duffer brothers have revealed that it wasn't intentional. "The honest response is, clearly like the characters in the show, we also forgot about Will's birthday," Matt told Variety.
But it turns out it's not that the characters forgot; the creators did. Speaking to Variety in an interview about the timeline of the overall season and several of the plot holes fans noticed, the Duffer Brothers admitted they had plumb forgotten about Will's birthday.
In 1984, Will Byers, a rescued victim of the Demogorgon, became a vessel for the Mind Flayer. Will's possession allowed Vecna and the Mind Flayer to unleash a horde of adolescent Demogorgons, or 'Demodogs', upon Hawkins National Laboratory.
And in season 4, it became apparent to many that Will was struggling with a secret. Now actor Noah Schnapp, who plays Will, revealed to Variety that his character is indeed gay, and secretly has feelings for his best friend, Mike, who's in a relationship with Eleven.
After his vision, Will tells his mother about the shadow monster he has seen, but the Mind Flayer's influence starts to take over Byers. Suffering from memory loss, it was deduced by Dr. Owens that Will is connected to shadow monster's hive mind with the other hosts, as he was hurt when a tendril was burned.
During one particular shot in the series' fourth season, a camera overlay reveals that it is March 22, which was established as Will's birthday earlier in the series. When asked if the miscue was intentional or simply an error, Matt Duffer said that they also forgot that Will's birthday was supposed to be that day.
Addressing the 'heartbreaking' Easter egg, show creators the Duffer Brothers admitted they had actually forgotten that Will's mum Joyce had revealed in season two that his birthday fell on 22 March.
Can the Stranger Things skating rink scene get sadder? Yes, because it apparently happened on Will's birthday, which everyone forgot about. We've all had our fair share of continuity goof-ups on screen – from stray Starbucks coffee cups to things showing up in inexplicable places.
Sharing more about Eleven's real father Andrew Rich could be a great way to wrap up the story.
One of the theories could be that Will has some supernatural powers that caused the monster to be lured to him even though he wasn't injured. That could also be the reason he could communicate with his mother using the lights.
On November 11, 1983, a funeral was held for Will Byers after what appeared to be his body was found in the local quarry. Take the quiz to prove your knowledge.
Byerson is the slash ship between Will Byers and Dustin Henderson.
Byler is confirmed by the Stranger Things writers.
Nancy Wheeler is a fictional character from the Netflix television show Stranger Things, portrayed by American actress Natalia Dyer. She is the sister of Mike Wheeler, the girlfriend of Jonathan Byers, and the ex-girlfriend of Steve Harrington.