Stranger Things actor shares Karen’s secret backstory, and how it impacted season five

Karen Wheeler has been around for all five seasons of Stranger Things, but we never learned as much about her as we have the five (or 12, depending on how you count) main characters. She finally had a big moment in season five. The actor who portrays Karen Wheeler, Cara Buono, has shared that her character had a hidden backstory in past seasons. This makes me appreciate her fight with the Demogorgon on a whole new level.

Cara Buono told Variety that she wanted her character to go beyond the “clueless mum” stereotype. She explained: “As an actor, I thought, ‘Okay, this is really funny, but how do I make this real for myself?’ And that’s when I came up with this idea that she’s drinking a lot and often, and probably by herself. We don’t see that, but she’s anesthetising herself, I’d say, in her bedroom, and sneaking the wine. That’s how I justified for myself.

An average evening
(Image via Netflix)

She continued: “She’s a functioning alcoholic! I mean, to me, she’s been a functioning alcoholic for a long time — especially, I would imagine, after Billy died.”

This finally affected the show’s plot in the season five episode Chapter Two: The Vanishing of Holly Wheeler. Karen initially fails to notice a Demogorgon has broken into her house to abduct her daughter because she’s busy drinking wine and listening to ABBA. She then attacks the monster with a wine bottle.

Karen x wine vs Demogorgon
(Image via Netflix)

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Buono told Tudum: “I thought, ‘This is a beautiful full-circle moment. I always joked about Karen and her wine, and now it actually comes in handy. She instantly channels her fierce maternal instincts, battling it head-on with a wine bottle as her weapon. All that drinking has a really good payoff.”

Her backstory for the character also impacted how she approached this episode. She went beyond what was written out in the script. “Before you see Karen sitting on the tub, I had her be much more drunk, and much more unstable,” she told Variety.

I have a whole new appreciation for Karen Wheeler’s scenes in season five of Stranger Things, now.

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