Karen Wheeler

Karen Wheeler (née Childress) is a major character in Netflix's franchise created by the Duffers Brothers.
She is the wife of Ted Wheeler and the mother of Nancy, Mike and Holly Wheeler. She js their odd yet caring parent, friends with Joyce Byers and Jim Hopper and the ex lover of Billy Hargrove.
She is portrayed by Cara Buono, who also played Gamemnae.
== Role in the series ==
=== Background ===
=== Season 1 ===
=== Season 2 ===
=== Season 3 ===
=== Season 4 ===
== Personality ==
Karen is a tough woman, a trait she shares with her daughter, Nancy. However, despite her best efforts, it is believed by Nancy that Karen is unhappy and that her parents didn't really love each other. Ted was a man with a high paying job and Karen was a young woman. They wanted to have the ideal nuclear family that involves the special income and having children together. Two other factors that point out Karen is unhappy in her marriage is her drinking and her cheating on Ted with Billy Hargrove, a teenager who was practically her daughter's age. According to Nancy, her mother is "tough," a trait that Karen and Nancy share.
When Will disappeared, Karen established a curfew in fear something would happen to them. Despite the trials Hawkins observed in the 1980s, Karen still continued to live there. According to her, she always wants her children to know they can always come to her whenever they're dealing with stressful situations. In Stranger Things 3, Karen saw how distraught Nancy was when she got home from work and had learned she had just been fired. After Nancy explained that everybody at the workplace treated her with sexism and how she got fired, Karen also shared with Nancy her past experience dealing with misogyny and even encouraged her to pursue the story Nancy and Jonathan were investigating. She also saw how distraught Mike was when the Byers family, including his girlfriend, moved away in 1985 and immediately hugged him.
However, despite her concerns for her children Karen is oblivious to Nancy and Mike's fight to protect Hawkins from supernatural threats. Karen starts becoming suspicious of Hawkins' mysteries and has expressed concerns that her children are in danger. This has mostly been fueled by the disappearance of her children's best friends Barb and Will, whatever the American government is covering at Hawkins Labs, and the deaths of Bill Hargrove and supposedly Jim Hopper. However, Karen's breaking point seemed to be brutal murders of Chrissy Cunningham, Fred Benson, and Patrick McKinney. Because of this, Jason Carver's paranoia gets the better of him after he accuses Eddie and the hellfire Club of being a cult worshiping satanic entities. This prompts her to call the police.
Despite their distant relationship, it is shown Nancy and Mike do care about their parents. For one, when Nancy was haunted by visions that Vecna showed her that creatures of the Upside Down, she listed her mother, Mike and Holly as one of the victims of said attacks. Mike has also expressed concern for his family and friends in Hawkins when he learns how much of a threat that Vecna is.
== Physical Appearance ==
Karen is a woman in her mid to late thirties, with curly, light brown hair and brown eyes.
== Relationships ==
== List of episode appearances ==
==Trivia==
* Karen was initially depicted as blonde in concept art, which didn't come into fruition until Season 2.
* Karen is the second main character in Stranger Things to be a mother and the third to be a parent.
== Gallery ==
=== Season 3 ===
==== Mall Rats ====
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== Navigation ==
Category:Stranger Things characters
Category:Live-action characters
Category:Netflix characters
Category:Sci-fi characters
Category:Horror characters
Category:Drama characters
Category:Females
Category:Humans
Category:Heroines
Category:Neutral characters
Category:Parents
Category:Aunts
Category:Spouses
Category:Lovers