- Winston: "What did you tell the cops?"
- Ani: "Look, Winston--"
- Winston: "He didn't kill Bryce. He was with me. What'd you tell 'em?"
- Ani: "Winston... He was already gone."
- Winston: "He was a human being. Okay? He was a human being. He didn't deserve to die like that."
- Ani: " I know."
- ― Winston justifying Monty's innocence and humanity while confronting Ani about Monty's arrest and murder[src]
Winston Williams is a main character in the fourth season of 13 Reasons Why after appearing as a recurring character in the third season. He serves as the main antagonist of Season 4, along with Diego Torres.
In the fourth season, Winston transfers to Liberty High School to learn more about Bryce Walker's death, and the implications of the cover-up on Montgomery de la Cruz. He enjoys a relationship with Alex Standall for a brief period, however, the two grow apart as Alex discovers his reason for coming to Liberty. Eventually, Alex reveals the truth to Winston, but Winston chooses not to pursue the matter any further due to his love for Alex.
Early Life
Not much is stated about his early life, although we can assume he was born into a well-off, old-money family. Before the series, he was enrolled in Hillcrest. He has mentioned being a fourth-generation Princeton legacy. However, he is not as academically strong as his older relatives.
Throughout the Series
Season 3
He can be first seen at a “rich kid” party that Bryce and Monty attend when Monty arrives Winston takes notice of his arrival.
While in a bedroom Monty arrives looking for a bathroom, Winston shuts the door and the pair look at each other before Winston moves into kissing him, Monty initially grabs Winston by the collar but proceeds to aggressively make out with him, and Winston gives Monty a blowjob.
After this encounter, Monty leaves the party. On his way out Winston encounters Monty and asks him to hang out sometime, but due to his fear of people finding out that him and Winston hooked up Monty calls him a f***** and proceeds to beat him up before Bryce and another partygoer pull him off, Winston. He then takes $2,000 off Bryce for his silence and demands another $5,000 the next day. Bryce and Monty leave and he tells Alex he doesn’t know why Monty attacked him.[1]
He is later spotted at the Liberty vs. Hillcrest game photographing the match. He and Monty exchange a look.
After the game he is taking photos of the team bus leaving when he is approached by Monty, Winston begins to leave but Monty apologizes to him for his actions at the party and tells him ”he seems like a good guy”. Winston invites Monty back to his place and the two have sex before Monty tells him that he can’t be publicly gay.
He attends the event organized at Liberty where Jessica publicly apologizes for causing the Homecoming fight and starts a wave of solidarity towards sexual assault victims.[2]
He is last seen at the end of the season outside of Monet’s, Ani comes out and Winston states that Monty was with him the night of Bryce’s death, and he knows that Monty is innocent. He says that Monty is a human being and that he didn’t deserve to die the way he did before walking off in disgust at Ani for framing Monty for murdering Bryce.[3]
Season 4
Winston first appears in a room talking with his mother about wanting to transfer to Liberty. Despite his mother's concerns for Liberty being "-not the best." Winston denies the concerns and says he'll be fine and he'll want to get closer with a few people he knows there.
He befriends Tyler and Alex, neither of whom knowing that he had been with Monty the night Bryce had been murdered. He and Alex briefly form a romantic relationship, Winston unaware that it was in fact Alex who murdered Bryce.
At the end of the season, Alex reveals the truth to Winston. Winston later confronts Alex over Bryce's murder and Alex explains himself to Winston. Winston chooses not to do anything with the information, stating that while he'd loved Monty, he also loved and still loves Alex too much to ruin his life. At graduation, Ryan Shaver shamelessly flirts with Winston.Personality
Not much is known about Winston. Winston is probably one of the only people who show acceptance to Montgomery, implying a kind and caring nature. Despite being violently attacked by Monty, he chooses to initially lie about their first sexual encounter when asked why he was beaten up. When asked by Ani and Clay why he kept Monty's secret, Winston replies, "That's a secret you keep," implying that he is sympathetic and understanding of Monty's struggle and difficulty in accepting his sexuality, putting his concern for Monty before his injuries. However, he did not have a problem revealing Monty's sexuality to Ani and Clay.
Later, Winston is confronted by Monty at the homecoming game, he is quick to forgive and invite him for another hook-up. Even after Monty denies being gay, Winston does not show judgment -- he kindly tells Monty that he does not have to be gay and that he can choose to be whatever he wants to be. At this point in the story, the night of homecoming and Monty and Winston's second encounter, which the audience sees as a flashback, Winston would probably not know much of Monty's reputation at Liberty and would certainly have no way of knowing about Monty's assault on Tyler during this time (it was only in the aftermath of the homecoming game and Bryce's death that Tyler first told Clay and Jessica). We do not know if Winston and Monty saw each other again between homecoming and the night of Monty's arrest.
In the aftermath of Monty's death, Winston expresses disgust at Ani for letting Monty take the blame for Bryce's death. The fact that he knows of Monty's death in jail would seem to imply that at some point he eventually became aware of the reason why Monty was imprisoned in the first place. The audience does not know what Winston's reaction was to find out what Monty did to Tyler, nor how/if it changed his relationship with him. Winston walks away after this, leaving his future intentions/thoughts unclear, except that he doesn't think Monty deserved to die the way he did nor that he should have been framed for a crime he didn't commit, implying that his relationship with Monty still influences how he feels about him despite Monty's actions. However, during prom, Winston eventually realizes that he loved his idealized version of Monty rather than Monty himself, and the two of them would have never been together even if he hadn't died.
Physical Appearance
Winston has a slender frame, thin pale white skin, dark black wavy hair, and green eyes. He dresses in long-sleeved shirts, coats, pants, and shoes.
Trivia
- Winston is openly gay.
- Winston is rich: he was a former student in Hillcrest.
- Winston drives a blue Audi R8.
- Winston was the student photographer at Hillcrest High School.
- Winston is a self-proclaimed "Nikon Nazi" meaning that he prefers Nikon cameras over Canons.
- Winston has been expelled from Hillcrest High School because Brian Chu, who took his SAT, ratted him out after getting caught hacking the school servers.
Appearances
Season 3
Season 4
Quotes
GalleryReferences
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