Stranger Things’ Nell Fisher Can Do It All

Stranger Things may be coming to an end, but for 14-year-old Nell Fisher, the show’s fifth and final season marks an exciting beginning. In the new installment, the London-based actor took over the role of Holly Wheeler, ushering her from little sister on the periphery to a bona fide main character, holding her own against Vecna.

While Fisher is not new to acting — having earned acclaim for her turns in Evil Dead Rise, a sequel to the iconic horror film Evil Dead, and Bookworm, a two-hander with Elijah Wood — joining one of Netflix’s biggest series of all time catapults her to new heights. Fortunately, she’s surrounded by co-stars who know exactly what that’s like.

“It’s obviously important to be able to balance being a normal kid and having a social life outside of this crazy world, while also pursuing what you love,” the native Londoner tells Bustle over Zoom. “And that was actually one of the pieces of advice that Finn Wolfhard gave me — just to be able to say, ‘No, I’m not doing pictures. I’m just on the high street going shopping with my friends.’”

When she’s not in school or promoting Stranger Things, the self-described “massive nerd” is finding time to decompress with books and TV — like Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet (“I have been warned that I will be unable to move via utter devastation at the end”) or Only Murders in the Building. “Biting my nails for the next season... set in London, so, you know...” she says, seemingly hinting that she’d like to join the comedy. In fact, she hopes to try out all kinds of roles; she looks up to young actors like Alisha Weir, who hopped between genres with Matilda and Abigail. But, as of now, her next move is still up in the air. “I’ve not really thought about what’s next because this is really the first time where basically anything could be next,” she says.

Below, Fisher opens up about working with Sadie Sink, finale theories, and the song that would save her from Vecna’s grasp.

Do you remember the first time you wanted to start acting?

I’ve always loved performing, dancing, singing, whatever it was. But I remember, actually, it was my brother — I was about 3, watching his after-school drama performance, sitting there almost transfixed, because I thought to become another character was such an extraordinary thing to be able to do.

Is there a certain actor that made you think, Oh, I see them doing it — that could be me, too?

[My family and I] have a very good friend, Thomasin McKenzie — she’s amazing. She actually babysat for us during COVID, and she’s become a sort of mentor for me, which is really nice. She was living in London recently, so we meet up with her often.

The scene with Holly, Karen, and the Demogorgon is one of the most terrifying things I can remember seeing in Stranger Things. Was it scary to film, or were there any behind-the-scenes elements that made it a little lighter?

Well, the Demogorgon was a man in a skin-tight gray onesie, so that was quite something. But no, when you have intense scenes like that and you get into heightened emotion, your body doesn’t really know the difference. So I would go off to do school and I would still find that I’d be hyperventilating.

Understandable! That’s a lot to act through.

Yeah, and we were soaking wet. We had just come out of the bathtub. And you would think we could get doused in water at the start, and that’s it for the day. No. Every 30 seconds, we were going back into a freezing cold shower. I was squelching.

What do you make of Holly’s mindset going into Volume 2?

This season is a coming-of-age for her. She’s been Baby Wheeler, but she’s also been in on the Upside Down, in a sense. In Season 1, she saw the Demogorgon reaching through the wall. In Season 3, she saw the trees moving. So she’s always been there. But this season, she gets to have it all explained to her and she’s really finding who she is.

How closely should fans be reading A Wrinkle in Time to find clues about how Stranger Things is going to end? Have you read it?

I read it when I was about 8, and then, going into this, I reread it. It’s such a fantastic book, a real classic. I’m not sure I can say too much about how the show ends, but for Holly, A Wrinkle in Time is a touchpoint. It’s like Mike and his relationship to D&D [Dungeons & Dragons] — the monsters are Demogorgons, and the other world is the Upside Down. For Holly, Vecna is IT, and his mindscape is Camazotz. So it’s really her way of being able to explain all these crazy, supernatural things.

You get to spend a lot of time on-screen with Sadie Sink. Is there a specific memory of working with her that you hold close today?

Probably one of my best memories with Sadie was the first time I met her, which was in April 2023, almost a year before we started filming. I was doing a chemistry read with her, like a final-round audition, and I remember going in, like, OK, this is pretty much it. This is make or break. I was ridiculously nervous, but I met Sadie, and instantly, she was really friendly, really supportive, and we just got along from that day on.

I was wondering if you happen to be a Swiftie, and if you leaned into that connection.

Because I hadn’t actually seen Stranger Things before I got the audition, it wasn’t, “Oh, my God. This is Sadie Sink from Stranger Things.” It’s, “Oh, my God! This is Sadie Sink from All Too Well: The Short Film.”

What song could help you escape from Vecna in your own life?

“Dog Days Are Over,” Florence and the Machine. Running out of that red mind space to that soundtrack?!

Millie Bobby Brown has been vocal about telling people that even though she started as a young girl on Stranger Things, she’s allowed to grow and be her own person. In working with her and Sadie, is there anything you learned about maintaining that space as a young actress?

Yeah, and what she said is spot-on. Especially when you grow up on a show, and in the public eye, it can be hard to A) become your own person, but B) further your career outside of, “I’m the Stranger Things girl.” It’s mainly staying true to your work and what you do, and saying, “I am an actor.” As long as you’re full of that, you will be able to go wherever you want.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.