Noah Schnapp Says That The “Stranger Things” Directors Were “Just Not Loving It” When Members Of The Cast Started Going Through Puberty

Lately, Stranger Things star Noah Schnapp has been proving to be an eager courier to the masses. First, when 17-year-old Noah shared with the world that 27-year-old Doja Cat’s pick-up game was weak as hell and that he’s very mature for his age (or at least more mature than her). Then, when he finally confirmed the speculation that his character, Will Byers, is gay. Now, Noah shared in an interview that the show’s directors had a tough time working through the young casts’ journeys into puberty. The show’s been on the air since 2016 when most of the core cast ranged from 12-14 years old, but since the shooting of the show has stretched on for longer than the timeline of the plot, added height, deeper voices, and fresh 5 o’clock shadows in one random scene in the middle of scenes that were shot pre-puberty would not be the look, so directors had a challenge on their hands.

A while back we learned that season 4’s episodes were running $30 million a piece, so you’d think that there would be a high-tech editing solution to make deepening voices sound higher that could just be paid for. But either sound-mixing isn’t as sophisticated as I imagined or funds were running low after they paid to pound Running Up That Hill and Master of Puppets into the ground, because Noah says that to remedy the puberty predicament, a producer asked him to just speak higher and slouch. via Variety:

“It was the peak time of change, and puberty and growing up and just everything was changing with all of us, and the directors were just not loving it,” Schnapp said in an interview with Flaunt. “And I remember one of the producers coming up to me and telling me, ‘Noah, is there any way you could just speak in a higher tone and just slouch a little bit? Like, we need you to keep that Season 1 innocence that you had.’ That was like, ‘I don’t know what to tell you. My voice is dropping. I don’t sound young anymore.’”

While Will is either 14 or 15 in Season 4 of “Stranger Things,” Schnapp is nearing 18.

Season 5 is slated to drop in 2024 and will probably focus on the group of kids’ grueling quest to save their town once and for all, so let these seasoned pros stand up straight, let out deep-voiced sighs, and rip those vapes between takes. They’ll have earned it.

Season 4 of Matt and Ross Duffer’s retro series ended on a major cliffhanger, with the season’s main villain Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) temporarily defeated, but succeeding in his scheme to merge the dark otherworld of the Upside Down with the sleepy Indiana town of Hawkins. Season 5 will presumably follow the large ensemble cast fighting to protect the town and attempting to finally destroy the Upside Down.

“Yeah, and I didn’t like you going through puberty either!” whine-texted Drake to Millie Bobby Brown. Ok, I’ll look past any voice continuity issues if they would just fix Will’s fucking dork-wad haircut. Why is it still a bowl? What say you, Duffer Brothers? Maybe by the time the fifth and final season drops, Noah/Will will go bald; Vecna started out with hair and ended up with none, so why not? Is Will’s hair the key that locks The Upside-Down for good? Is the haircut what keeps Vecna and the Demogorgons heated? Noah, please report back on this pressing matter.

Pic: Instagram