'Stranger Things' season 3: Will Byers was abducted and possessed in previous seasons, will he be the victim again?
If you thought Millie Bobby Brown's Eleven was the one who went through some insane amounts of torture in 'Stranger Things' seasons 1 and 2, think again.
It all started with Noah Schnapp's Will Byers who mysteriously disappeared on the night of November 6, 1983. He was abducted by the Demogorgon and taken into an alternate dimension - the 'Upside Down'. For a week, Will evaded the creature while his family and friends desperately searched for him. By the end of the first season, he was eventually rescued and returned to normal life, but his time in the Upside Down left him with a mysterious connection to the alternate realm.
Season 2 saw Will being possessed by the Mind Flayer, and becoming a part of his hive mind. While he was instrumental in assisting his friends take down the creature by understanding its motives, strengths, and weaknesses, it still left him scarred.
For those who have followed the two seasons religiously, decoding Will is pretty easy. This was a boy who was quite intelligent for his age, soft-spoken and is a talented artist, not to mention a science nerd and a 'Ghostbusters' fan. However, his interests resulted in him being constantly picked on. His father's poor treatment didn't help either as Will, deep down, nursed the feeling of being alienated. Adding to this was the ordeal with the Demogorgon and Mind Flayer which further pushed him away from friends and family. His peers called him 'Zombie Boy' and the sensitive treatment meted out to him just infuriated the kid more.
Now, what does this do to a character like Will? And with evil looming large over Hawkins again, will he be the victim to go through the nightmare again? We certainly hope not. And with the skills that he possesses, it would be a lot cooler if Will is the one who gets to make decisions or at least have a say in them when a plan is formulated to take down the creatures, rather than be used as a bait.
A quick shot in season 3 trailer shows Will looking at a picture of him and his pals in their Ghostbusters costumes and crying. Does it mean Will may be the one to get affected again? The final trailer sees him explain how the creatures may inhabit a new host, but later there is a shot of him holding the back of his neck and trembling.
At this stage, it looks like Will is the most vulnerable of all given the unfortunate way things have unfolded. But hopefully, just hopefully, the sweet-natured kid may not have to go through another ordeal again.
'Stranger Things' season 3 premieres on Netflix on July 4.