Stranger Things Season 5: How Holly Wheeler In Upside Down Reminds Us Of Alice In Wonderland

Children are set to play an important part of Vecna's plan in the final season of Stranger Things. For the fifth season, co-creators Matt and Ross Duffer have bumped up the role of Holly Wheeler in the series.

The role was recast with a slightly older actress, teenager Nell Fisher, taking over the part from twins Anniston and Tinsley Price. The action in the current season also begins when Holly is abducted into the Upside Down. The makers have already given a few clues about the character's link to Alice in Wonderland, and we have some theories about what it could mean. Warning: Spoilers ahead!

Why is Holly Wheeler so essential?

After Will Byers (Noah Schnapp), Holly becomes the second child taken into the alternate dimension. The Wheelers have been a part of the fight against Vecna from the very beginning, but Holly has always been timid and shy. At the end of Volume One, Vecna taunts Will that he is taking children like him who are weak and can be controlled. According to him, 12 children will be enough to ignite his plan to reboot the world. Except his so-called victims will not be taken over so easily, and the Duffers seem to have dropped some hints to indicate another wild plan is in motion.ALSO READ: Stranger Things Season 5: How Duffer Brothers Are Reviving Old Spinoff Idea And Bringing Back THIS Divisive Character

Holly and Alice in Wonderland parallels

Throughout the show, the Duffers have loved to pay homage to older films and literature. With Holly, two literature pieces become evident straightaway: Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time, which the character is reading early on in the show, and Alice in Wonderland. Her imaginary friend, Mr. Whatsit, is a reference to a character, Mrs Whatsit, from the L’Engle book. Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland is the second inspiration, as once Holly enters the Upside Down, she experiences a more wholesome place than the scary, cold nightmare from Will's abduction. Like Alice, everything is colourful and inviting but, of course, turned topsy-turvy. Like Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink), she is trapped within a version of Henry's mind and memories.

One of the first clues she could be Alice is the blue dress that is left for her in the closet. The resemblance is uncanny. Another huge Easter egg: what was the name of Henry's dead sister? That's right, it's Alice. Sink's Max could be the Mad Hatter character that Alice encounters in her journey, while Henry, aka Vecna (Jaime Campbell Bower), is the White Rabbit (with pocket watch) that she follows to the Upside. With the confirmation that Derek has been taken to the Upside Down at the end of the four episodes, the dual nature of the little boy suggests that he could be the mischievous Cheshire Cat, who is up to no good.

Another literary reference in the fourth episode is Little Red Riding Hood, as Holly wears a hooded cape to enter the woods where she eventually meets Max. The latter needs Holly's help to kick off a plan to fight Vecna, and if it all goes well, they just might pull it off. Last year, in July 2024, Ross Duffer shared a snapshot of a painting featuring Alice with the Rabbit, the Mad Hatter, the Cheshire Cat, Tweedle Dee, and Tweedle Dum. The painting hung at the Creel house, where Henry left Holly. Coincidence? We think not!