Stranger Things creators explain how Will is different to Eleven, despite having same gift

Stranger Things season five has fully lived up to everyone’s expectations so far, and that huge bombshell about Will has got everyone comparing him to Eleven.

In the last episode, Will Byers is revealed to have powers, and he amazingly starts stopping the Demogorgons one by one and breaking their necks before they can kill Mike, Lucas and Robin. Will can see through the Demagorgons’ eyes, and the final screen ends with Will wiping a nosebleed with his sleeve, which we’ve seen Eleven do thousands of times.

So, are Will and Eleven the same?! Kind of, but not exactly. Speaking to Variety, co-creator Ross Duffer explained: “It’s different in that he’s able to channel Vecna’s powers. But they’re all related. Vecna and Eleven, their powers are similar. The powers aren’t within him. He’s able to channel these powers from Vecna and use it, sort of puppeteering.”

His twin brother Matt Duffer added: “He taps into the hive mind, and then he can manipulate anything within the hive. You’ll see how far he can take it as you continue to watch. But that’s how he’s able to manipulate the monster. So he can’t open a door, because the door is not part of the hive mind.”

Credit: Netflix

Will developed powers in the Netflix series because he got hooked into the hive mind. Ross explained “If he’s not close to the hive mind, he’s not able to access or tap it,” while Matt clarified: “It’s proximity based.”

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So, Eleven can harness her powers whenever, while Will can only use his powers when he’s close to the hive mind. If he was never taken to the Upside Down, Will never would have got his powers, so “it’s very different from Eleven in that regard”.

The creators said they’ve been talking about Will having powers for as long as they can remember, and we saw a bit of it all the way back in season two.

“He had a dark version of it in season two — he was connected to Vecna. He could see what he saw, but he didn’t realize that at the time he was able to tap into it in a way and use it against Vecna. That’s something he doesn’t learn till this season. It took us a while to build there, but it was something we always intended to do,” Matt said.

The final episodes drop on 26th December, so we’ll have to wait and see what Will uses his new powers to do.

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Featured image credit: Netflix