Will is canonically psychic by the way (oh, and I don't think he spent a week in the Upside Down).
In the first episode, he is described as sensitive.
In everyday conversation, we often use this word to describe someone who is emotional, delicate, or reactive.
That seems to be the context Joyce is using when she pleads with Hopper to take Will’s disappearance seriously. She emphasizes that Will is bullied and perceived as queer. His sensitivity could be seen as weakness or femininity, making him a target for violence.
But there’s another layer to this word:
“Sensitive” is also a term used to describe someone highly attuned to their environment—particularly their senses, or even to paranormal phenomena. Sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste make up the five known senses. The elusive sixth sense is intuition.
A psychic is someone who is sensitive to influences or forces of a nonphysical or supernatural nature. They are also called “a sensitive” or “an intuitive.”
Here’s the first Oxford Languages definition of sensitive:
Remind you of someone?
Will is always the first (or only) person to detect the presence of the Mind Flayer/ Vecna—both undeniably supernatural entities.
By its very definition, Will is psychic!
He is, quite literally, a sensitive and intuitive.
What’s curious is that he’s described this way in season one, long before his possession by the Mind Flayer. So this trait predates his entanglement with the Upside Down.
To understand this trait better, we don't have to look far for comparison.
There are several psychic characters in Stranger Things: El, Henry, Kali, and the other children from Hawkins Laboratory.
Notice that they all use their psychic powers very actively. They use them with intention or based off instruction, and it’s physically and mentally exhaustive.
El’s psychic powers are not shown as particularly intuitive either: she cannot simply know where someone is or what they’re doing. She follows a ritual of sensory deprivation to activate these powers.
It's intentional.
It's trained.
We know that El’s mother Terry was the subject of the MK-Ultra experiments during her pregnancy. It’s likely this was also the case for all the other children at Hawkins Lab.
We also know that in season 3, El lost her powers. To get them back, she had to follow a program.
So if these powers can be taken away or absorbed by the Mind Flayer, if they have to be brought back through a program, that means...
None of the children at Hawkins Lab were born with their powers: their powers are not inherent, or even intuitive.
Rather, the children (including El) were born sensitive.
Their sensitivity is what gave them the capacity to develop and evolve their psychic powers over time, with the help of the program.
We see this program in action in the season 4 flashbacks to 1979. They have a clear routine: it's rigorous and challenging. Some children are more skilled than others.
Henry Creel was also described by his father, Victor, as a sensitive child. Like Will, it’s implied Henry was always sensitive—even before he came into contact with the Mind Flayer and developed his powers.
Will Byers is sensitive just like El, Henry, and the other children at Hawkins Laboratory
...and Dr. Owens knows this.
When trying to convince El to come to NINA and begin the program, Dr. Owens tells El that he thinks she is the only one who has a shot at fighting back.
Pay close attention to his choice of words here:
Not: “You’re the only one with powers.” Not: “You’re the only one who can fight him.”
His wording—“the only one who has a shot”—implies that others exist with ability. El is simply the best option by a mile.
But... who else could he mean? Kali has gone rogue. The other lab children are long deceased.
Of course, there is another sensitive child who is still alive and accounted for. Someone Dr. Owens is very familiar with:
Dr. Owens knows Will is sensitive like El, but understands that he is not well-equipped: Will is passive, precocious, and unexperienced.
El on the other hand is active, fierce, and experienced.
Will is an option, but he is likely Dr Owen’s (and Dr Brenner’s) absolute last resort.
And yes, Dr Brenner is completely aware of Will's existence, even if we have never seen them interact.
But Will might be more familair with Dr. Brenner than the show has let on.
We see both Mike and Will react to Dr. Brenner when they find El in Nevada. Mike is confused.
Will however, gets a dramatic push-in shot where he appears devastatingly wide-eyed and frozen.
This shot implies that Will recognizes Dr. Brenner—that they’ve interacted before. Will seems unsettled, caught in a moment of internal processing, trying to understand why the sight of this man triggers something in him.
And Will isn't just psychic, the show has already hinted that he was subjected to the Hawkins Lab program:
The newspaper article covering Will’s disappearance alleges that "Will was the subject of a secret government program run by the Hawkins National Laboratory."
But come season two, no one has any idea of what was happening at Hawkins Lab. It's why Nancy and Jonathan go to conspiracy theorist Murray to help them expose the truth. Even then, they ultimately decide to "water it down."
When we see this newspaper clipping again, it's instead alleged that Will went missing in the woods. This is the "watered down" story of his disappearance accepted in canon.
We as the audience have also been given a watered down story.
Will surviving the Upside Down for an entire week has always been considered a mysterious feat. He’s never spoken about it—likely because he doesn’t remember.
Somehow, he lasted seven days without food or water, avoided hypothermia, and escaped monsters that easily slaughtered grown men.
We’re told he survived, but we’re never told how.
For one, we don't fully understand how he communicated through the lights.
In Season four, Dustin and the others communicate with the teens trapped in the Upside Down using Holly’s Lite-Brite. The connection is possible because they are physically nearby—they simply touch the glowing light to activate it.
They can even hear each other. Heck, they can hear Dustin's tone.
But Joyce was only able to directly see (and hear) Will once while he was in the Upside Down, through what appears to be a micro-gate of sorts.
For the rest of the time, he communicated through lights or through the radio—both associated with psychic powers, and both which can be done from a distance.
And how could Will possibly see the letters on Joyce's wall anyway? Was he even touching them? Not likely.
So if Will wasn’t physically at the Byers house when he was communicating with her—then where was he?
And how was he doing it?
He was at Hawkins Lab. Using his psychic powers.
Will surviving an entire week in the Upside Down is bizarre and unlikely, but it's the watered down story we've been given.
It's possible that he was promptly found and taken to Hawkins Laboratory—at least, for a little while. Not for rescue, but to follow the program.
This also makes sense when we consider how lifelike and realistic the fake body was. They could only pull off this kind of accuracy if they had the real specimen as a reference.
The body wasn’t a guess. It was a replica.
Because Will was in their hands. And they were prepared to let the world believe he had died.
But something in their plan changed, and they decided to return Will to the Upside Down.
Maybe he failed the program.
Maybe they started the training too late, making him difficult to groom.
Unlike the children they raised from infancy, Will already had a life. A family. A sense of self. A mother and close friend who wouldn’t stop searching.
He was, in every way, too late to mold.
(Yes—like the Jedi. The older the child, the harder to train. Because love gets in the way. Season one even makes direct references to Star Wars).
Or maybe they simply wanted to clear the laboratory of any evidence he had been there, when they realized Hopper and Joyce were onto them.
And what happened when he was returned?
Er, it doesn't bode well for him.
He's found on to be on the brink of death. It’s as if Dr. Brenner decided to let fate run its course.
He's also found In the public library. Not Castle Byers. Not the Upside Down version of his own house. Not anywhere close to where we know he's been.
Almost like he was placed there. He was placed there, and he immediately succumbed.
Which makes one thing very clear: Will did lose to the Upside Down.
This is why Dr. Brenner and Dr. Owens would rather rely on El, even if they know Will is an option. She's a fighter. She knows how to use her powers with intention.
And not to be corny but, Will?
Will is a lover, I fear.
From their perspective, it's better to just put a soteria inside him, erase his memories, and get on with it. Let fate run its course.
Besides, it's not like he'll ever actually discover he's psychic.
There's no way he'll remember
...right?
