what happened to will in stranger things

Will Byers’ fate is tied to the final season and the multiverse of Stranger Things. In Season 5, it’s revealed that Will is still alive but trapped in the Upside Down, where he’s been key to Vecna’s plans. The first minutes of the season show Will hidden in Castle Byers, sensing danger, and eventually being pulled into a confrontation with Vecna inside a haunted, vine-wrapped Hawkins library-like space. This suggests Will has a special connection to the Upside Down and Vecna, and that his survival hinges on the group’s efforts to rescue him while uncovering the larger stakes of Vecna’s scheme. These events reinterpret Will’s Season 1 experience as more than a mere kidnapping; they position him as a central figure in the final battle between the heroes and the Upside Down threat.