Holly Wheeler

* 1986
* 1985
* 1984
* 1983

### Episodes

**Holly Wheeler**, portrayed by twin sisters Anniston and Tinsley Price, is a recurring character in *Stranger Things*.

Holly is the younger sister of Nancy and Mike Wheeler and the daughter of Karen and Ted Wheeler.

## History

### Background

Holly was the youngest child of Ted and Karen Wheeler and the younger sister of Mike and Nancy. She was born around 1980.

### 1983

On November 7, 1983, the Wheeler family had a family dinner where everyone (except Holly) got into a loud, verbal fight, startling and scaring Holly. Karen became angry with Ted and everyone left the table, taking Holly. leaving Ted by himself

Two days later, Holly and her mother visited Joyce Byers. Holly followed Joyce's flickering Christmas lights to Will's room. She saw the monster begin to push through the wallpaper. Joyce asked Holly if she saw anything, and Holly responded with a yes. Joyce then insisted for the two of them to leave.

Three days later, Ted, Karen and Holly were placed under house arrest while agents from the Department of Energy searched their home.

One month later, after Will's rescue from the Upside Down, Holly was seen with her family celebrating Christmas.

### 1984

On October 29, 1984, Holly Wheeler was in the kitchen and saw Nancy chase Mike for taking money from Nancy's piggy bank so he could play at the Palace Arcade. The next day, Holly was eating at the dinner table as her parents told Mike to fill two boxes of his toys for a yard sale.

Four days later, while eating breakfast with her family, Holly was asked by Mike if she liked the grapes she was eating. She then listened to Nancy asking if Nancy could spend the night at a friend's house. Holly listened to her mother say "yes" (unaware that Nancy planned to expose Hawkins Lab with the help of Jonathan Byers to Murray Bauman as payback for causing the death of her best friend, Barbara Holland.).

### 1985

In 1985, a couple of days before July 4, Karen decided to meet Billy Hargrove for swim lessons at a local motel. When Karen saw Holly sleeping on Ted's lap as he slept on his Lazyboy, Karen changed her mind. Seeing her youngest daughter and her husband caused Karen to rethink her decision to have an affair with Billy.

On the Fourth of July, at the Fun Fair, Holly was with her parents, having fun as they were about to go on the Ferris wheel. When they reached the top of the wheel and stopped, Holly and her parents got a perfect view of the fireworks. Holly noticed some trees in the distance moving and tried to tell her mother, but Karen urged her to keep watching the fireworks.

Later, as Holly got on the Gravitron with her parents, Holly watched as her mother was approached by Joyce Byers and Jim Hopper, asking where Mike, Nancy, and their friends are. Holly enjoyed the Gravitron. She watched as Joyce and Hopper ran off, listening to her parents remark how Joyce and Hopper made an odd couple. Unknown to the three of them, the Joyce and Hopper were being pursued by Russians led by hitman Grigori.

### 1986

By 1986, Holly has become more independent than she was before. On the morning of March 21, she is eating breakfast as her siblings prepare to leave for school. She lets Max Mayfield borrow her crayons so she can draw what she saw in Vecna's mind lair. When Dustin discusses Freddy Krueger, Holly asks who Freddy Krueger is. Dustin says that he is a man with razors for fingers and kills people in their dreams, to Nancy's disdain.

Holly and her parents attended Chief Powell's town hall meeting to discuss questions about the recent killings of several teenagers in Hawkins. Later, her family met up back at the Wheeler house alongside Dustin's mom and Lucas' parents. When Erica Sinclair told Holly's parents that the kids lied about seeing a movie, Holly sang "Liar liar, pants on fire," much to her mom's contempt.

In order to communicate with Eddie, Nancy, and Steve who were stuck in the Upside Down, the kids stole Holly's Lite Brite because of the machine's ability to manipulate light. For Holly's understanding, Erica gifted Holly a candy bar.

During the "earthquake", Holly screamed as the ground shook, while her mother comforted her. Two days later, when spores from the Upside Down fell from the sky, Holly exclaimed that it was snowing; when Karen looked outside to see for herself, she realized something much stranger was afoot.

## Personality

Holly is an innocent and well-meaning child. Despite being very quiet, Lucas claims she says more after he observes Eleven's limited vocabulary when the boys first meet her. Like her parents, she's largely unaware of the events that take place in the town of Hawkins that her siblings are involved in, though there have been many instances where she does notice the supernatural, only to get shut down due to her young age.

She noticed Joyce's Christmas lights flickering leading to Will's bedroom and the Demogorgon attempting to go through the wall, but only Joyce (who experienced the same situation the night prior) believes her when Holly explains it to her and Karen. She also notices the Mind Flayer moving through the trees at the top of the Ferris Wheel during the Fourth of July celebration, but Karen, unaware, merely tells her to look at the fireworks. Despite this, Holly can also get scared, especially when her older brother and sister were arguing over Will's disappearance and Steve Harrington. Holly was very scared as their outbursts frightened her.

As her age progresses, Holly is shown to be more independent.

## Relationships

### Familial

**Karen Wheeler**

Karen deeply loved Holly. She was more often seen acting as caregiver for Holly than Ted. Karen was seen comforting Holly, putting her to bed, holding her, and feeding her. When Nancy and Mike argued and stormed off from the dinner table, Karen comforted a scared Holly by distracting her with her dinner. In 1985 Karen restrained herself from having an affair with Billy after noticing Ted sleeping in his recliner with Holly, realizing she's putting her own needs before her family. She and Ted take Holly to the Fourth of July Fun Fair, where they watched the fireworks on top of the Ferris Wheel. At the fair, Holly repeated things Karen said to Ted, indicating she idolized her mother and attempted to be like her.

**Ted Wheeler**

Ted is not heavily involved in Holly's life. Karen is seen often taking care of Holly more than him. Despite this, Ted does love her and it's likely he has a better relationship with her than his other two children, most likely due to her young age. In 1985, Karen watched Ted sleep with Holly on his lap in his recliner. During the Fun Fair on the Fourth of July, she and Karen jokingly teased Ted about torturing him by forcing him to get on the Ferris Wheel with them. The three then watched the fireworks at the top of the wheel.

**Nancy Wheeler**

Nancy was significantly older than Holly. She was also involved in the supernatural occurrences in the town of Hawkins. Therefore, Nancy and Holly rarely had interactions with one another. However, Nancy did indeed care about her. When Will went missing, which caused their parents to forbid them going out after dark, Nancy did not appear concerned about swearing and raising her voice in front of Holly. When seeing her house being searched by the agents of Hawkins lab, Nancy is concerned for her family. In 1984, Nancy is shown offering food to Holly at the breakfast table.

**Mike Wheeler**

Mike was significantly older than from Holly. He was also involved in the supernatural occurrences in the town of Hawkins. Therefore, Mike and Holly rarely had interactions with one another, though Mike did care about Holly. After Will went missing, Mike did not appear concerned about swearing and raising his voice in front of Holly. He showed a picture of her to Eleven when they toured the Wheeler house. In 1984, Mike was seen asking if she likes her grapes while the family ate breakfast.

### Non-Familial

**Max Mayfield**

Max is a friend of Holly's older brother and a member of the Party. Despite not knowing Max that much, Holly let her borrow her crayons so she could draw what she saw in Vecna's mind lair.

**Dustin Henderson**

Dustin is a friend of Holly's older brother and a member of the Party. When Dustin had discussed Freddy Krueger, Holly asked who Freddy Krueger is. Dustin says that he is a man with razors for fingers and kills people in their dreams, to Nancy's disdain.

## Appearances

\*Holly makes an uncredited appearance in "The Mall Rats".

## Family tree

*note: family trees are only visible on desktop.*

## Trivia

* Holly was only portrayed by Tinsley Price in "MADMAX", "Trick or Treat, Freak", "Will the Wise", "The Hellfire Club", "The Nina Project", "The Dive", and "The Massacre at Hawkins Lab".
* A lot of Holly's outfits are similar to the character Gertie from the 1982 Steven Spielberg movie, *E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial*.
	+ Another possible inspiration for her character is Carol Anne Freeling from *Poltergeist*.
* She displays a bizarre emotional disconnect when she saw claws in the wall at the Byers house.
* In the original pilot script, she was supposed to cry during the dinner fight talk and cry louder when Mike hit the dinner table and left.
* In Season One, the twins, were initially afraid of the demogorgon until the other cast and crew members told them that the monster was like the ones on Monsters Inc., which allowed them to overcome their fear.
* She makes five appearances in seasons 1 and 4 and three in seasons 2 and 3.
	+ She technically only appears twice in season 3 because one episode had her uncredited, though mentioned.

## References

1. ↑ "The Weirdo on Maple Street" - Holly was 3 in November 1983.