It all comes back to Will Byers. The final episode of Stranger Things Season 5, Volume 1 left fans with a jaw-dropping reveal: that Will has powers.

Being able to showcase a stronger, more heroic side of Will was crucial for Noah Schnapp, the 21-year-old actor who plays him. At the start of the series, Will is painted as a victim — he’s kidnapped and taken to the Upside Down, and has continued to endure trauma because of it. But as Stranger Things comes to an end, it becomes clear that Will is critical to stopping Vecna once and for all — he’s the missing piece.

“I’m excited to see Will come into his own and be more sure of himself and see where that takes him,” Schnapp told Netflix’s Tudum. “He’s more than just the kid who got kidnapped, and this season you see what’s beyond that and the layers beneath him. I’m excited to see him exploring his identity and interacting with his friends and understanding more of his connection to the Upside Down.”

What are Will’s powers?

Will is able to channel Vecna’s powers by tapping into the hive mind. He can manipulate monsters connected to the hive mind — like Demogorgons — hence why he was able to kill them when and how he did in Episode 4. But his powers are entirely proximity-based, according to Matt and Ross Duffer, the brother-cocreators behind Stranger Things: He’s only able to harness them if he’s close to Vecna.

“We’ve always known that Will has a connection to Vecna and the Upside Down,” Ross Duffer told Netflix’s Tudum. “In Season 2, we started to delve into it, but one of the earliest ideas in the new season is, ‘What if Will were able to harness this connection and use it against our villains?’ We also felt it very natural to recenter the story on Will. He was the kid who was taken in Season 1, so it felt right for the story to come full circle. If anyone’s going to be the key to ending Vecna, it needed to be Will.”

What was going on with Will leading up to this moment?

In the first four episodes of Season 5, audiences get a clearer sense of Will’s struggle with his sexuality and how he copes with having feelings for his best friend, Mike (Finn Wolfhard). When Robin (Maya Hawke) gives Will that heartfelt pep talk about being gay and the importance of accepting oneself regardless of anyone else, it affects him deeply. It’s in this moment that Will is finally ready to start accepting himself, and with that, he becomes able to develop the strength needed to harness these powers.

“There is a lot that Will has been dealing with over the course of the four seasons prior to this — so many emotions and inner conflicts that remain unresolved,” Matt Duffer told Netflix’s Tudum. “So we wanted him to grow as a human and become a fully formed version of who he is, to truly accept who he is. And once he’s able to do that, he’s able to harness these incredible powers.”

How are Will’s powers different from Eleven’s?

While Eleven’s powers come from within, Will is only able to channel Vecna’s powers. Will doesn’t actually have powers of his own.

“It’s different in that he’s able to channel Vecna’s powers. But they’re all related,” Ross Duffer told Variety. “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.”

How are Will’s powers connected to Vecna?

In Stranger Things Season 5, Volume 1, audiences learn that it was Will who helped Vecna realize that children are the “perfect vessels” to be broken and controlled, thereby helping bring his plan to reshape the world to fruition. As Vecna’s first vessel in 1983, Will showed him what was possible because of how easily he broke under his power.

Will’s been linked to Vecna since Season 1, though it’s only in Season 5 that he realizes this link can be manipulated for his own benefit: by tapping into the hive mind and temporarily accessing Vecna’s powers himself.

“He taps into the hive mind, and then he can manipulate anything within the hive,” Matt Duffer told Variety. “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.”

What else have the Duffer brothers said about the big reveal?

Revealing that Will had powers was always part of the plan, according to the Duffer brothers. And as fans know, this isn’t the first time in the series that Will’s connection to Vecna is showcased.

“He had a dark version of it in Season 2 — he was connected to Vecna,” Matt Duffer told Variety. “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. The details of it were a little rough until we started working on it.”

What has Noah Schnapp said about it?

After filming the epic scene in which Will telekinetically kills several Demogorgons at once, Schnapp apparently sent Matt and Ross Duffer a long, heartfelt text message.

“I remember texting the Duffers a long paragraph the next day after I filmed that scene and being like, ‘You guys don’t understand how grateful I am for this show and this character, and the way you wrote Will for the final season is just something I could have never dreamed of,’” Schnapp told Netflix’s Tudum.

Over the course of Stranger Things, Will isn’t exactly a leader. He’s quiet and more timid than his friends, often following the plan rather than implementing it. But this moment and these powers change everything for him.

“Getting to have that opportunity with that scene was such an incredible experience, such a high for me and probably one of my favorite filming sequences of the year,” Schnapp added. “And for Will, that moment is like the Holy Grail moment.”