However she is actually a strong & fierce intelligent woman dealing with a number of complex emotions & thoughts. On the surface Karen is shown to be a stereotypical perfect upper-middle class housewife whose head is filled with being the perfect wife & homemaker, who levees the big decisions to the Men. After tearfully reuniting with Mike, Karen is left to worry as she and Holly see floating particles from the Upside Down beginning to infect Hawkins. Soon after, what is perceived as an earthquake causes a four-way rip throughout Hawkins, leaving Karen and the other townspeople frazzled and ready to move out. Karen grows to be concerned about Nancy since she is missing, and is left puzzled when Mike's friends flee from the police. She soon resigns herself back to being a mother, offering Nancy advice after getting fired from her job, and three months later, comforting Mike after Will and El move out of Hawkins.īy the spring of 1986, while Mike is sent to California for Spring Break, paranoia of the town's mysterious mallfire and and recent murders of teenagers lead Karen, alongside the other parents, to believe their children to be linked to Eddie Munson, leader of the Hellfire Club, a D&D falsely believed to be a Satanic worshipping group. The next day, Karen arrives at the pool to talk to Billy (who's been possessed by The Mind Flayer) and explain why she didn't come, but Billy, restraining himself from hurting her, simply tells her to stay away from him. She realizes how selfish she is and ultimately decides to not go.
When Billy propositions her by offering "swimming lessons" at the local motel, Karen is about to leave for the night until she discovers Holly sleeping in Ted's lap on the chair. She does, however, become sexually attracted to Billy Hargrove, the older brother of Max, who reciprocates the feelings.īy the summer of 1985, Karen's desire for Billy has hit the ultimate peak, ogling him along with her friends at the local pool, where Billy works as a lifeguard.
In 1984, she remains the same, blissfully unaware of what her children are doing after they lie and say they're having a sleepover (when in reality Mike is tending to a possessed Will while Nancy teams up with Jonathan Byers to shut down Hawkins Lab). She eventually tearfully reunites with Mike at the local middle school and goes to the hospital where Will has been recovered.
When a group of agents arrive at their house telling her and her husband that his son and friends might be hiding the experiment, Karen becomes extremely distraught. She remains largely unaware of the events around her, especially her son keeping an escaped experiment in her basement and her daughter searching for a monster from another dimension. This causes friction between her children, particularly Nancy. In 1983, after her son's friend, Will Byers, goes missing, Karen enforces strict rules that no one goes out late. She is a recurring character in Stranger Things. Karen Wheeler, portrayed by Cara Buono, is the loving but somewhat clueless mother of Nancy, Mike, and Holly, and the wife of Ted.