Warning: spoilers ahead for season 4 volume 1.
The writers have finally addressed an error and apologised after which left Will Byers’ storyline even more upsetting this season.
In , a year after the battle of Starcourt mall, the gang have all begun to appear more grown up than ever before as their lives lead in different directions with Will () having left Hawkins with his family and Eleven ().
Will, extremely excited for his best friend Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard) to visit them in California, ended up feeling ignored when Mike placed the majority of his focus on Eleven… made even worse by a realisation that several eagle-eyed viewers had after dissecting one of the episodes in detail.
In the second episode of season four, when Eleven is targeted by bullies on a roller skating rink, the camcorder reveals that the footage is being captured on March 22 1986 – which just so happens to be Will’s birthday.
Of course, fans would never have missed such a key detail, but creators The Duffer Brothers admitted that they ‘forgot about Will’s birthday.’
Speaking to , Matt Duffer revealed: ‘The honest response is, clearly like the characters in the show, we also forgot about Will’s birthday. So the debate now is whether we adjust Will’s birthday or we just let it be really sad.’
In season two of Stranger Things, Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder) mentioned that March 22 was Will’s birthday while trying to get through to him, after he had been possessed by the Mind Flayer.
Ross Duffer added: ‘It was six years ago that I wrote that date!’ before the brothers confirmed that they’re memories are ‘not great’.
Matt insisted: ‘We love Will, and I don’t want people to think we don’t love Will because we forgot — we do!’
The pair considered potentially solving the situation by giving Will a ‘new birthday’, but their idea of changing Joyce’s season two line to May instead of March would be ‘too mean’ because it would mean ‘his mom forgot his birthday!’
Ross added: ‘It was obviously a mistake, and we’re sorry. We apologize to fans.’
‘And especially to Will! It’s unfair,’ Matt said.
Stranger Things is available to watch on Netflix. Season 4 volume 2 drops on Friday July 1.
