THE RUNDOWN
- Holly Wheeler is Mike and Nancy Wheeler’s younger sister in Stranger Things.
- In Season 5, she has become a main character with the Duffer brothers sharing that she is key to the plot of the finale.
- Holly Wheeler’s imaginary friend, “Mr Whatsit,” will also play a significant, ominous role in this season.
- Holly has been recast this season with 14-year-old New Zealand actress Nell Fisher.
In five seasons of Stranger Things, we’ve met a lot of fresh faces, and unsurprisingly, there’s a new one in season 5—though she’s not a new character.
Holly Wheeler has been recast for season 5 by 13-year-old New Zealand actress Nell Fisher. Holly has appeared throughout the series since season one, but in season 5 she’s stepping into a much bigger role, bringing a friend with her: Mr Whatsit.
Below, find everything you need to know about Holly Wheeler and the mysterious Mr Whatsit.
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Is Holly Wheeler Important In Stranger Things Season 5?
Image: Holly Wheeler throughout the seasons
In season 5, the youngest Wheeler sibling develops an imaginary friendship. She’s first seen waving to a shadowy figure through the window at home, then later talks to the same invisible man at school (we catch a glimpse of him from her point of view, wearing a suit). Her mum, Karen, is soon summoned to the school to discuss Holly’s worrying behaviour.
Ross Duffer has said Holly’s character — and her imaginary friend — is integral to bringing back the childhood magic that defined Stranger Things, now that the cast and characters have aged. “As we just broke season 5, we realised that Holly playing a larger role—that’s really when the season started to take shape. What we really wanted to do, and what that scene with her and Mike is talking about, is, obviously, our cast is older now, but we wanted to bring the show full circle to season 1,” he told Deadline. “And to really do that, we needed kids in there again, so it felt like the best way to do that was through Holly.”
Who Is Mr Whatsit?
Image: Netflix
Holly is reading A Wrinkle in Time when her older brother Mike (Finn Wolfhard) comes to collect her from the principal’s office. “He’s protecting me. He says that there are monsters in Hawkins,” she tells Mike. Mike assures her there’s no such thing as monsters (a bald-faced lie), but says even if there were, she should be her own saviour.
Holly calls her imaginary friend Mr Whatsit, clearly modelled on the character Mrs Whatsit from Madeleine L’Engle’s award-winning novel. He’s also made himself known to some of Holly’s classmates, who refer to him by the same name — because they’ve all read the book for school.
“A Wrinkle in Time was one of our favourite books growing up. And so as we were talking about Holly’s storyline—just like how our kids in season 1 and later seasons used Dungeons & Dragons to help explain and understand these crazy goings-on—for Holly, she doesn’t play D&D, but she needed something else to help make sense of what’s happening in her world,” Ross said. “As we looked at various books and reread A Wrinkle in Time, we thought, ‘Well, this is perfect,’ because she can use it to help comprehend all these weird goings-on.”
Image: Netflix Jamie Campbell Bower as Henry Creel
When we see Mr Whatsit through Holly’s eyes, he appears as a man in a suit. But soon it’s revealed that Mr Whatsit is actually Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower), but in his human form — Henry Creel. When the Demogorgon snatches Holly, he brings her to the Creel mansion, where Henry Creel greets her. Holly is presented with all of her favourite things, which Creel seems uncannily to have guessed, and he shares with her that he plans to rescue her school friends and, eventually, her family. We soon learn that he’s been shadowing other kids in Hawkins, telling them that he’s going to rescue them.
Jamie Campbell Bower said that playing Henry Creel/Vecna in this storyline even gave him the creeps. “This super refined, very nice version of who he is — it’s this very warm, natural way of being that hopefully makes them feel at home. It’s so icky,” he told Deadline. “But hopefully it makes them feel at home enough for him to do what he needs to do, which is just disgusting, really, if you think about it.”
It doesn’t take long for Mike and Nancy Wheeler to figure out their sister has been taken by Vecna. When they realise Holly’s imaginary friend may hold the clue to her whereabouts, they go to the only person who would know: their mum. With her throat damaged by the Demogorgon, they ask her to write down her responses to their questions. She tells them that Holly’s imaginary friend had a stopwatch and wore a suit. When they ask her his name, she writes: “Henry”
Image: Netflix
Meanwhile, Holly soon realises the danger she is in. Max is also trapped in what she describes as “Camazotz”, borrowing the concept from A Wrinkle In Time. Camazotz is a seemingly idyllic place that, in fact, is a prison of Henry Creel’s making. Together, Max and Holly conspire to escape, but Holly will need to fake it with Henry Creel for their plan to work.
Given that other children in Hawkins are also familiar with “Mr Whatsit” (i.e. Henry Creel), we don’t want to think too hard about what that means for the rest of the town’s kids.
Who Is Henry Creel?
The Stranger Things universe can be confusing—especially when one character goes by three different names. It’s easy to forget that Vecna was once human: Henry Creel. A disturbed child, Henry moved with his family to Hawkins, Indiana, in 1958 in an attempt to outrun his dark past (in season 5, he’s keeping Holly at the old Creel family home). But soon after the move, Henry discovered he had powerful psychic and psychokinetic abilities. He eventually murdered his mother and sister, framing his father, Victor, for the crime. Dr Martin Brenner, intrigued by Henry’s abilities, took him to Hawkins National Laboratory, where he became Subject 001—the first telekinetic child in the facility. Brenner implanted a device called a Soteria in Henry’s neck to suppress his powers, effectively turning him into a prisoner. In 1979, Henry manipulated Eleven into removing the chip with her powers. He then massacred the other test subjects and staff, beginning his slow, horrific transformation into the monster we now know as Vecna.
What’s Next For The Cast Of Stranger Things?
Nell Fisher might be stepping into the spotlight this season as Holly Wheeler, but many of the other Stranger Things cast are taking their final bow after years in the Upside Down. In ELLE Australia’s December “Party Issue”, Stranger Things star Sadie Sink (Max) opens up about her character’s fate after that devastating season 4 cliffhanger, her evolution across the series, and what filming the final season has been like. As the story comes full circle and the new kids on the block face fresh threats in Hawkins, Max’s journey shows just how far the original crew have come — and what they still have left to fight for. Grab your copy now.
Image: ELLE Australia
Ruby Feneley
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