Stranger Things Season 5's Biggest Twist Won't Surprise Any Longtime Fans

This article contains spoilers for "Stranger Things" season 5, episode 4 — "Chapter Four: Sorcerer."

Netflix's "Stranger Things" is back for one final, three-volume spin around the Upside Down. As usual, it offers plenty of surprises and twists ... but this time, the biggest twist the season's Volume 1 has in store isn't quite as surprising as you'd think.

Yes, the cat is finally out of the bag: Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) has mind powers, just like Henry "Vecna" Creel (Jamie Campbell Bower), Jane "Eleven" Hopper (Millie Bobby Brown), and the other poor psychokinetics from Hawkins National Laboratory. After speculating on the subject, "Chapter Four: Sorcerer" ends with the revelation that Will can indeed control the Demogorgons, and even gets an Eleven-style nose bleed from using his powers.

The show treats this as a major revelation, but is it, really? We've known for a while that "Stranger Things" season 5 would use Will's arc to tie everything together. Over the course of its five seasons, the show has also given eagle-eyed viewers copious clues about Will's true nature, to the point that it would almost have been disappointing if he hadn't pulled an ace from his sleeve. From being introduced as the wizard/sorcerer of his Dungeons & Dragons group ("Will the Wise," anyone?) to surviving numerous Upside Down threats that should have killed him many times over, William Byers has had several brushes with the paranormal and demonstrated a wide array of unique abilities. Since every other kid with supernatural powers on "Stranger Things" has psychokinetic powers, it makes perfect sense that Will has at least some level of those abilities, too. 

In "Stranger Things" season 1, Will is introduced as the wizard of his D&D group. His character gets defeated by a Demogorgon, and mere moments later, he's abducted by the show's version of the creature. Yet, despite all forms of Demogorgons — the humanoid ones, Demobats, and Demodogs — being highly aggressive and murderous, Will survives the creature and the Upside Down with resourcefulness that beggars belief. "Sorcerer" reveals this to be Vecna's machinations, but that's hardly news: season 4 already revealed that Vecna controls the Upside Down and everything in it. 

Will returns from the Upside Down with a psychic link to the plane in general and the Mind Flayer-slash-Vecna in particular. This leads to assorted visions, possessions, and power displays over the course of the seasons, which further underlines Will's nature as a special dude. While other characters like Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink) and Billy Hargrove (Dacre Montgomery) have also been manipulated by Vecna, Will's connection to the Upside Down remains the strongest, he withstands it for the longest time, and his passive abilities like the visions often seem inherent rather than actively caused by Vecna. The evidence has been piling up for a while — going into season 5, Will was just behind the Upside Down's power players and Hawkins Lab's psychokinetic kids on our ranking of the most powerful "Stranger Things" characters.

"Sorcerer" finally provides the payoff for these teases, and it's high time, too. As /Film has argued before, "Stranger Things" has kept failing Will Byers in many ways for much of its run. Maybe now, with the endgame in sight, the character finally gets to shine. 

"Stranger Things" season 5, volume 1 is streaming on Netflix.