The Duffer brothers reveal the reason everyone missed Will Byers' birthday in 'Stranger Things' season 4: 'We also forgot'
- Warning: Minor spoilers ahead for "Stranger Things" season four.
- The Duffer brothers confirmed that they forgot about Will Byers' birthday in "Stranger Things."
After watching "Stranger Things" season four, part one, fans noticed that someone – either the characters or the writers — had forgotten Will Byers' birthday in the show. In an interview with Variety, the Duffer brothers confirmed that it was their mistake.
"Cleary like the characters in the show, we also forgot about Will's birthday," Matt Duffer told Variety. "So the debate now is whether we adjust Will's birthday or we just let it be really sad."
"Stranger Things" season four, part one premiered on Netflix on May 27. The wildly popular show, which premiered in 2016, follows the supernatural happenings and shady government operations surrounding the town of Hawkins, Indiana over the course of several years in the 1980s.
As Insider previously reported, "Stranger Things" confirmed that Will Byers' (Noah Schnapp) birthday was March 22 after his mother Joyce (Winona Ryder) told him a story about it in season two of the show.
The first episode of the fourth season explicitly states that the date is March 21, 1986, and that Mike (Finn Wolfhard) was planning on flying out to California the next day — i.e. March 22, Will's birthday — to visit Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) and Will.
No one, including Will's mother, mentions his birthday throughout season four. Will himself doesn't even bring it up and spends most of the day being brushed off by his friends.
The brothers told Variety that they were considering remedying the situation by changing Will's birthday to May 22, since the word "May" could easily "fit in Winona's mouth" instead of "March" in the season two scene where Joyce mentions the date.
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. We apologize to the fans."
"And especially to Will! It's unfair," Matt said.