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Best Character Named Cole

Cole Sear (The Sixth Sense)

Cole (Ninjago)

Cole Cassidy (Overwatch)

Cole Anderson (Detroit: Become Human)

Cole Turner (Charmed)

Cole Cash aka Grifter (WildStorm)

Voting ended onFeb 13, 2025

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The Sixth Sense parallels in ST: Will Byers & Cole Sear

(ST movie DNA series: 1)

The Sixth Sense (1986) is known as a classic movie, especially in the 80's genre of classics, so I can see why the Duffer's were so influenced by it. There are A TON of similarities between the main character Cole Sear, and Will Byers in Stranger Things.

Cole is a young boy who can sense and see dead people, just like how Will can sense when the mindflayer/the upside down is near. They both have supernatural abilities.

Cole also lives with just his mother and his father is absent, similar to Will's home family life.

Cole and Will are both outcasts and teased at school: Cole is called a "freak", and Will is called "zombie boy" and even calls himself a "freak".

They're both pretty shy and quiet kids.

Cole's mother makes him see a psychiatrist to help him cope with whatever she thinks he is experiencing, and Will has to go in for frequent check up's in the lab's hospital.

Okay now that we have some background on their similarities let's get into the parallels

Light bulbs indicating the presence of the supernatural:

There is a scene in The Sixth Sense where the light bulb glows really bright: a ghost appears to Cole, and Will is taken to the upside down. They are both alone when it happens.

Feeling like they are falling when they sense the supernatural is near:

Cole: “Sometimes you feel it inside, like you’re falling down real fast, but you’re really just standing still.

Will: “You know when you drop on a rollercoaster? It's like everything inside your body is just sinking all at once”

Feeling it's presence on the back of their necks:

Cole: “You ever feel the prickly things on the back of your neck?”

Will touches his neck everytime he senses the Mind flayer is close, and we can even see goosebumps on it in some closeups.

Feeling cold whenever the supernatural is present:

Cole: "That's them. It gets cold." (Also: breath is visible in many scenes with ghosts present b/c of the cold temp.)

Will: "And your body...it goes cold" (Also: "He likes it cold." & "It's so dark, and so cold.", and Will's body temp is cold when he gets possessed)

Even the conversations they have when they reveal what's really happening to them, parallel each other. Both Cole and Will tear up, and Will completely cries. Malcolm (Cole's psychiatrist) and Joyce (Will's mother) are understanding and want to try and help.

Cole has a conversation at the end of the movie with his mother, who has no idea what's happening to him until he tells her right then. Although it's not a direct parallel, it reminds me of the scene with Joyce and Will in the car in s2, on the way to his check up.

Will and Cole parallel each other majorly. I don't think it's a stretch at all to say Cole's character inspired some aspects of Will's character/storylines/details in ST.

Oh also, Cole Sear is 11 years old in the movie. Will and Eleven have a connection in Stranger Things that hasn't explicitly been discussed in the show, but we know it's there because of all the references ;)