Summary

Karen Wheeler's mysterious poster in Season 4 hints at a bigger role in Season 5 of Stranger Things.
Fan theories suggest Karen could be connected to Vecna and play a crucial part in the final showdown.
The Duffer Brothers have teased Karen's importance, leaving audiences wondering about her true role in the series.

It looks as if Eleven will be needing all the help she can get for the imminent showdown in Stranger Things Season 5, but if the Season 4 character posters are anything to go by, she might be gaining an unlikely alley. Either that, or Vecna's lineage could prove troublesome for the Hawkins gang, especially Mike and Nancy Wheeler. Leading up to the release of Season 4, Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer unveiled the official character posters, which depicted the main cast members against a backdrop of a significant landmark. But one of these things was not like the others, as Karen Wheeler — a side character — received a stand-alone poster despite her limited screen time.

But the more intriguing aspect of Karen Wheeler's character poster isn't its mere existence, but more the Duffer's deliberate selection of backdrop. For Eleven, her poster features a silhouetted outline of Hawkins Lab, where Papa trained her to fight One. For Mike, Will, Argyle, and Jonathan, the landmark appears to represent California. Characters like Hopper, Joyce, and Murray have a rendition of Russia beneath them, whereas pretty much everyone else has some variation of the Creel House, including Karen Wheeler. Some speculation points to Karen playing a larger role in Stranger Things Season 4 initially, only for the Duffers to make necessary scene cuts to streamline the already jam-packed storyline.

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By Alyssa Avina

Fan Theories Seemingly Incriminate Karen Wheeler Ahead of Season 5

Stranger Things The Creel Family Season 4 Victor and Henry Creel

Around the time of Season 4's release, a Reddit thread sparked discussion as to Karen's future role in Season 5. While some Reddit users chalked the character poster up to a good agent and some behind-the-scenes coercion, others believe Karen's poster to be deliberately foreboding as to what's coming in Season 5. Stranger Things fans will recall Karen's character poster from Season 3, although this was more justified due to her playing a meaningful part in Billy Hargrove's story. Many Stranger Things aficionados even deciphered (according to the thread comments) that Karen seems to act differently to the other parents, as if she's clued in on a secret that no one else is.

That statement plays in to the Karen Wheeler/Alice Creel theory. Season 4 introduces Henry Creel, son of Victor and Virginia Creel, as the show's Big Bad. In his youth, Henry was discovered to possess extraordinary psychokinetic abilities, similar to those exhibited by Eleven throughout the show. Henry used these powers to torture and murder his mother and sister, Alice Creel, thereby leaving Victor Creel to take the wrap for the homicide. Although Alice is only seen briefly, the consensus of the theory is that Alice Creel somehow survived the ordeal and grew up to become Karen Wheeler, an average Hawkins resident who lived out a regular, civilian lifestyle so that she could bide her time until the day would come to take over Hawkins with Vecna.

So that's what Karen Wheeler knows that no one else does. All of this remains significant to another fan theory, which outlines how Holly Wheeler will go missing, just as Will did in Season 1. This incriminates Karen, who seems to be acutely aware Vecna's intentions and his vision for Hawkins. This can be deduced by how unfazed she seems at the end of Season 4. This also also explains why she was so inexplicably drawn to Billy in Season 3. It was partly his dashing good looks, but that was only half the explanation. At the time, Billy was possessed by the Mind Flayer, who -- by extension -- works under the puppeteer Vecna. More Reddit comments hash out the implications of the Stranger Things' parents' involvement in Vecna's scheme, even going so far as to suggest that all of them are in on it. Except, presumably, Joyce and Hopper. But all of this is merely conjecture, especially as the solution could be much, much simpler.

The Duffer Brothers Tease Karen Wheeler's Importance in Season 5

Aside from Hopper and Joyce, Karen Wheeler is (arguably) the most 'involved' of the Stranger Things parents. After Season 3, Karen Wheeler was promoted to series regular. Not only did this benefit Billy's storyline, but also Nancy's. In one particular scene, Nancy returns home distraught after facing the ridicule of her ignorant bosses at the Hawkins Post. Karen comes to comfort her, stirring a fire inside of her that motivates her to chase the 'rabid rats' story that all the other outlets dismissed. In the end, Nancy uncovers the mystery behind the Mind Flayer assembling an army, playing an important role in defeating it. All of that determination stemmed from Karen's influence, while her motivations are still scrutinized under a magnifying glass.

If Karen Wheeler turns out to be Alice Creel, the reveal would be all at once predictable and yet not. If the Duffer brothers threw a red herring into the mix to throw viewers off the scent of another Vecna collaborator, that was well-played on their behalf. If Karen has no further use for the plot in Season 5, many audience members seem to believe her dismissal would be wasteful. There's no clear-cut answer as to how imperative Karen's involvement will be in Season 5 of Stranger Things, but Matt and Ross Duffer have meticulously planted enough seeds of doubt to point shifty eyes at Karen Wheeler going forward.

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