Unequivocally, yes.
Of course, once any artwork is in the public domain then that same public will interpret it as they choose (as in the above post where a poster has interpreted DSC/SNW as taking place in a different universe), but still the intent of the author is inexorably tied to the piece of art in question.
I can interpret Picasso’s Guernica as an illustration of LGBT struggles if I want but it doesn’t mean that’s what it was intended to be about. The intent of the author overrides the interpretation of any work.
How can it not? Surely it’s more than a little self-entitled to say “well I know the writer said x, but in my opinion he didn’t mean that and it’s actually y”?