The cast of Stranger Things have visibly matured in the four years since Will Byers vanished on Nov. 6, 1983 — and nearly a decade after the series debuted. One character whose presence has quietly expanded is Holly Wheeler, Mike and Nancy’s youngest sister, who emerges as a surprisingly important figure in the show’s final season.
A look inside Holly’s bedroom reveals her appetite for sci‑fi and nostalgic pop culture: an ALF poster, Rainbow Brite bedding, and a Care Bears toy sit among her things. Most telling, though, is the battered copy of Madeleine L’Engle’s 1962 novel A Wrinkle in Time, which Holly clearly treasures and which functions as an intertextual clue in season five.
The Duffer Brothers routinely fill Stranger Things with retro signposts — from Star Wars action figures to Ghostbusters costumes and the theme from The NeverEnding Story — and they often use those callbacks to deepen a season’s themes. In season three, the kids’ decision to sneak into a screening of George A. Romero’s Day of the Dead alluded to both the secret Soviet operation under Starcourt Mall and the Mind Flayer’s growing “zombie” influence. In season five, L’Engle’s book plays a comparable symbolic role.
Both Stranger Things and A Wrinkle in Time center on clashes between benevolent and malignant forces, featuring young protagonists, familial loyalty, psychic phenomena, and journeys between realities. L’Engle’s novel follows 13‑year‑old Meg Murry on a mission to find her missing father, aided by her brother Charles Wallace, their friend Calvin, and three enigmatic cosmic guides: Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which. At a time when girls rarely anchored speculative adventures, the book offered a gateway into imaginative fiction for a new generation.
In L’Engle’s tale, Meg confronts the Black Thing, a diffuse darkness threatening entire worlds. The most oppressive world she visits is Camazotz, where a telepathic intelligence called IT enforces uniformity and control. Charles Wallace falls under IT’s sway after encountering a hypnotic figure — the Man with Red Eyes — and nearly dooms the group before Meg’s love for her brother breaks the spell.
Ed. note: The following contains major spoilers for the first half of Stranger Things season 5.
In season five, Henry Creel initially reaches out to children telepathically while masquerading as a benevolent figure — echoing Mrs. Whatsit’s comforting guise — offering deliverance from the Upside Down’s terrors. In reality, he lures kids into the Upside Down to bind them to a hive‑mind constructed from his memories. Holly explicitly likens that prison to Camazotz; episode six’s title, “Escape from Camazotz,” makes the parallel explicit.
Within that allegory, Vecna stands in for the Man with Red Eyes, the Mind Flayer functions as IT, and Will Byers occupies the role of Charles Wallace. Having been connected to the hive mind since his first abduction, Will ultimately learns to channel that link: in the midseason climax he leverages his bond to command Demogorgons and counter the invasion. Unlike Meg, whose salvation of Charles Wallace hinged on familial love, Will’s breakthrough stems from an internal acceptance — aided by Robin — that lets him harness his experiences and powers.
The relationship between L’Engle’s Black Thing, IT, and the Man with Red Eyes may also illuminate a deeper truth about the Upside Down: Vecna/Henry Creel appears haunted by something lodged within his memories — the desert cave where Max later hides, and where in the prequel play Stranger Things: The First Shadow he first encounters the alternate dimension and acquires his abilities. Henry even claims to have birthed the Mind Flayer after being exiled to the Upside Down by Eleven, so the question remains: what is the primordial darkness he first touched as a child?
It’s plausible that an overarching malignancy — something analogous to the Black Thing — underpins both Vecna and the Mind Flayer. Discovering how to confront or sever that primary force would be central to saving Hawkins and, perhaps, the wider world. Just as Mike has long drawn on his knowledge of Dungeons & Dragons to interpret and combat the Upside Down’s threats, Holly’s affection for A Wrinkle in Time positions her to play a meaningful part in the series’ last confrontation.
Source: Polygon
