#bonus: will byers was going to be 012

[pop-pop-pop-popculture]

I think it would have been so bloody neat if instead of killing the kids, Henry helped them escape and throughout season 4 we find out that some (not all!) of the kids who are now teenagers or even adults were the ones that Peter helped them escape.

Omfg, yessss! Like I've said a thousand times, the show should have only focused on Dr. Brenner and Hawkins National Laboratory. For instance, throughout the seasons, we find out more secrets Dr. Brenner (and I guess even the government) have been hiding, such as what happened in 1979 and the fact that quite a lot of kids were being held hostage and getting experimented on because they had a superpower of some sort (which, by the way, Jim told Dr. Brenner to his face in the investigation room in the season one finale). Another anon said it would have been cool if Max was/is 008, which I am totally on board with!, and, like many people on here think, 010 was/is Eddie, especially given some of the things he said to Chrissy in the woods.

Let's entertain this brilliant concept, shall we? Again, not every single kid will be a supporting character in the series, just a few.

005: Steve Harrington (because.. why not????)

006: Patrick McKinney

008: Max Mayfield (escaped in 1978)

009: Chrissy Cunningham

(a boy was casted for 009, but in this little change-up, let’s pretend it was a girl!)

010: Eddie Munson

Do you know how freaking cool that would have been?! Also, instead of helping them all escape, while I do like that concept, it could also have been set up to where only 005, 006, 009, and 010 escaped somehow and everyone else except for 011 were killed. Max was already long gone.

[hawkinsschoolcounselor]

noah schnapp said that will may have a separate storyline next season and that they’re filming elsewhere. do u have any theories on what that storyline may be? do u think he’s gonna be separated from the rest of the party majority of the season or it’s just gonna be a 1-2 episode thing? also when he says separate do u think he means just him or him with the rest of the byers?

I think I read that somewhere in my post-Season 3 media binge. Honestly though, I don’t put much stock into what the actors say about the future of their characters. Even if they do know, they wouldn’t be allowed to say much unless they were instructed to. I personally chalk that statement up to wishful thinking on his part. Let’s pretend it’s true, though, because I enjoy theory crafting for Season 4.

A logical continuation of Will’s story arc would be his struggle to accept himself and to find peace with his trauma. He may feel a need to pull away to do this, but I just don’t know where that would lead. I personally don’t like the idea of a purely solo story, as I didn’t enjoy it when they did it with El in Season 2. I felt the entire episode with the gang felt disconnected from the rest of the story. I wouldn’t want a repeat of that. Will probably would be apart from the Party, and they set that up by having him move away. Mike would hopefully be coming to visit, or vice versa, since it’s the holidays, but Will needs to find his place apart from the Party, as he literally finds himself in the background with them. I think his story would have to include El, as they’ve still not interacted after three entire seasons. I can see them bonding, acting almost like twins. Maybe some jealousy involving Mike causes friction at some point. Of course, I expected that in Season 3, so what do I know?

I do think we’ll get a focused Will story arc though, at least as compared to his background role in Season 3. I’m hoping for an X-Men type of thing where his powers fully manifest due to physical and/or emotional trauma. I’ve previously written how I think Brenner will take advantage of a de-powered El and capture her for further experimentation, bringing Will along as a bonus. Again, though, I expected him to show powers in Season 3, but all we got was a Mindflayer proximity alarm.

I think a nice plot twist would be for a rescue team to go in after him, only for him to have broken free himself and rescuing his rescuers. Will deserves his moment of glory after three seasons of pain. It could be the culmination of his struggle to find himself. Alternatively, Will becoming 012 could be the cliffhanger for a possible Season 5.

In the end, while I have fun theorizing about this, I’m a counselor, not a storyteller. I was right about a couple of things when I made predictions after Season 2: Nancy and Jonathan shutting down the lab would result in trouble, and a rift between Mike and Will would develop now that El was back. The first was right because the lack of a government presence allowed the Russians to set up their own lab in Hawkins. The second, while correct, was a conspicuously insignificant moment. I wasn’t able to predict pretty much anything else, aside from Steve being awesome yet again. 

I would highly suggest taking a look at @kaypeace21‘s theories. I can’t even touch that level of detail, but we generally have similar ideas.