They finally find the real Will Byers in the season 1 finale , Episode 8, titled “The Upside Down.”

Quick answer

  • Will is physically found in the Upside Down near the end of Episode 8, where Hopper and Joyce locate him unconscious and connected to a vine-like tendril in the alternate dimension.
  • He is then brought back to Hawkins and resuscitated in the hospital shortly afterward in the same episode.

How the season builds to finding Will

  • Will disappears on November 6, 1983, in Episode 1, “The Vanishing of Will Byers,” after being attacked by the Demogorgon and dragged into the Upside Down.
  • For most of season 1, everyone thinks he is missing or even dead, especially after they discover a fake body planted by the lab, and only in the finale do they physically recover him alive.

In-world timeline vs. episode timing

  • In the story’s timeline, Will spends about a week trapped in the Upside Down before Hopper and Joyce reach him.
  • In terms of watching the show, viewers see Will disappear in Episode 1 and then see him actually found alive at the end of Episode 8 of Stranger Things season 1.

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