Topics: Stranger Things, Netflix, Film and TV
As fans continue to come to terms with the epic conclusion of Stranger Things after five nail-biting seasons, one of the show’s youngest stars has paid tribute to the Netflix series with a look back at the experience.
The original actresses who played Holly Wheeler in the first four seasons have shared a heartwarming look back at their journey on the sci-fi hit, which included sharing a video montage of countless moments on set with the likes of Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard and Carla Buono.
Yet while the adorable snaps have charted a pivotal point in the early portion of their career, fans couldn’t quite get over the fact that the role of Holly had originally been played by twins all along.
The revelation blew several fans' minds on TikTok, with many exclaiming: “THERE’S TWO?!” in the comments.
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Another user also expressed a similar sentiment, adding: “Wait, like the Holly from Stranger Things has a twin?”
With a third adding: “How did I not notice?!”
Identical twins Anniston and Tinsley Price played the role of Mike and Nancy’s little sister when the show first started in 2016 and carried on in that role all the way through four seasons.
However, for the fifth and final season, the role was recast, with the twins replaced by Nell Fisher instead as the character took on a more crucial role through the final episodes.
Speaking to SFX about the reason behind the recasting of the role, Stranger Things co-creator Matt Duffer said: "Once you see the full season, you'll have a better understanding of why it was so important to add her to the cast."
In another interview with Variety, Ross Duffer elaborated on the decision to cast Nell Fisher: "If you watch the previous seasons, Holly barely talks at all. So we didn’t really have much of a character there. She was just a little kid. Even Season 1, when we’re filming her, it was basically whatever one of the young twins would do, we would just try to capture it in real time.
"So we didn’t really have a voice for her. In the initial scripts, Holly was a little shyer and a little more withdrawn. And then, as we found Nell, who’s such a character [...] we started infusing Nell’s personality into Holly."
Matt continued: "We were really nervous about [recasting Holly]. It is not like she had to look identical to the twins who were playing Holly in the past, but she had to resemble them enough that you weren’t totally confused.
"But more important than that, they have to be an incredible actor."
Speaking to TUDUM, executive producer Shawn Levy also added: "For this season, the Duffer Brothers wanted to centralize Holly as a main character.
"Many, many years ago, we had two 3-year-old twins play Holly, back when I was shooting her following Christmas lights down a hallway."
"So this time around, there was both an opportunity, but also a necessity, to find someone to play Holly who is around the same age — that innocent, defining age — that our kids were when this started."
Although fans were sad to say goodbye to the twins, Anniston and Tinsley couldn’t have been more positive about Nell taking over the role, as they sweetly told her on Instagram: “Can't wait to see where you take our girl, Holly. We know it's going to be amazing!"
