STRANGER THINGS Star Says Will and Vecna’s Connection Feels Straight Out of Harry Potter
The first half of Stranger Things season five left fans reeling, and the final moments of volume one pushed the stakes higher than ever. The showdown between Will Byers and Vecna was tense, emotional, and packed with major implications for the upcoming finale.
According to Noah Schnapp, that explosive clash carries a very specific cinematic inspiration from the Harry Potter film series, and once you hear it, the connection is impossible to miss.
Spilers Ahead!
Volume One ends with Vecna finally crossing into Hawkins, stepping out of the Upside Down in full force. He lifts Will into the air and lays out his twisted plan to take the children of the town and use them to reshape the world, a plan he claims Will helped make possible years ago. After dropping him, Vecna retreats, leaving a group of Demogorgons to tear through Will and his friends.
That is when Will’s emotional surge kicks in. Through their lingering connection, he taps into Vecna’s own power and destroys the Demogorgons.
It becomes clearer than ever that whatever Vecna did to him back in 1983 created a bond that might be the villain’s undoing. The dynamic feels strangely familiar, and Schnapp says that is by design.
“For Will, we start to learn the parallels between Will and Vecna, and it almost felt very Harry Potter to me that I had to go back and re-watch the movies, because the Harry Potter-Voldemort relationship felt very close to Will and Vecna,” said Schnapp to Deadline, adding that more of this connection will take shape in volume two. “So just kind of exploring those parallels and what that means.”
Fans are already spotting the similarities, not just in the writing but in the visual language. One viewer posted a comparison between a shot from episode four and a moment from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, and you can easily see the resemblance.
It’s easy to see how the creative team may have drawn from that iconic final battle where Harry channels Voldemort’s own magic against him.
Given what we now know about Will’s connection to Vecna, this comparison may be more than a fun nod. In the Harry Potter finale, the young wizard uses the Dark Lord’s powers to destroy him once and for all.
With Will now accessing that same kind of shared energy, there is a real chance he could be the one to bring Vecna down when the series reaches its end.
Stranger Things Season 5 Volume1 is currently streaming on Netflix, and Volume 2 arrives on Christmas Day. The wait for the final chapter is going to feel long, but after everything Will and Vecna have set in motion, it looks like the series is gearing up for an ending worthy of its biggest inspirations.