Nancy Wheeler (Stranger Things): from model student to monster hunter
Character · The hunter · Seasons 1 to 5
Nancy Wheeler is Mike's big sister, and the Stranger Things character who understood fastest that fear was of no use. A model high-schooler in 1983, she loses her best friend Barb in Steve's pool, picks up a rifle, and does not put it down for four seasons. A journalist, a shooter, an investigator, she is the one who asks the questions the adults avoid. This page brings together everything: Barb, Steve, Jonathan, Vecna's vision, the 1987 radio, and the epilogue.
The essentials
- Name: Nancy Wheeler, daughter of Karen and Ted Wheeler
- Family: Mike, her little brother; Holly, her little sister
- First appearance: season 1 (November 1983), a junior at Hawkins High
- Distinctive signs: the pump-action shotgun, the notebook, the cool head
- Ties: Barbara Holland, Steve Harrington, Jonathan Byers, Robin Buckley
- Played by: Natalia Dyer
- Status: alive; splits from Jonathan amicably at the end of season 5
Contents
Played by
Natalia Dyer
It is Natalia Dyer who lends her face to Nancy Wheeler on the show.
Image: Stranger Things series, via miro.medium.com.
Who is Nancy Wheeler?
In November 1983, Nancy Wheeler is sixteen, with perfect grades, a popular boyfriend, and a best friend, Barbara Holland, who keeps telling her that Steve will bring her nothing good. She goes to Steve's party, she goes up to his room, and meanwhile Barb, alone at the edge of the pool, disappears. Nancy will never forgive herself. That is the crack through which everything else comes in.
She is the eldest daughter of Karen and Ted Wheeler, the big sister of Mike and Holly, raised in a house where you do not talk about serious things. Nancy, she does. She is the first teenager on the show to pick up a weapon, the first to enter the Upside Down of her own will, the first to understand that the lab is lying.
Her path is the clearest on the show: from a girl who wants to be normal to a woman who refuses to let the monsters stay hidden. Intern journalist in 1985, editor of the school paper in 1986, voice of the underground radio of Hawkins in 1987. Nancy investigates. Nancy shoots. Nancy does not let go.
BarbBarbara Holland appears in only three episodes of season 1, and her fate raised a wave of anger among viewers: nobody in Hawkins seemed to mourn her. Season 2 answers that anger. Nancy traps the lab with Jonathan, leaks the truth to a journalist, and gets for Barb's parents what the town refused them: a funeral, and a reason.
In the shop: a piece from the show's universe that goes with this file, chosen by us.
In the shopMen's Visit Hawkins vintage T-shirt39,90 €See the product
Nancy season by season
1983Season 1: Barb
The day after the party, Barb has not come home. Nancy searches Steve's house, sees a creature in the yard, and understands that nobody will believe her. She allies with Jonathan Byers, the weird boy who photographed the party, and discovers with him that the thing is drawn to blood. In Mirkwood forest, she crosses to the other side through a rift in a tree and sees Barb's body. She buys a rifle, turns the Byers house into a trap with Jonathan, and shoots the Demogorgon. It takes Eleven to destroy it. Nancy ends the season with Steve, and a secret.
1984Season 2: the truth
A year later, Nancy can no longer stand lying to Barb's parents. Drunk at the Halloween party, she tells Steve their couple is a lie, and leaves him. With Jonathan, she traps the lab by recording the confession of Dr. Owens, and hands the tape to Murray Bauman, a paranoid journalist who leaks it. The lab closes. Barb gets a funeral. And Murray, between two drinks, pushes Nancy and Jonathan to admit what everyone sees.
1985Season 3: the journalist
Summer 1985, Nancy and Jonathan are interns at the local paper, the Hawkins Post, where she serves coffee to a newsroom of men who mock her. She investigates anyway, into rats that eat fertilizer and an old woman losing her mind, and traces it back to the Flayed. Fired, she keeps going. She faces the flesh monster in a hospital, then at Starcourt, and does not back down.
1986Season 4: the vision
Editor of the school paper, Nancy investigates the death of Chrissy with Robin, visits Victor Creel at the asylum, and understands the history of the house. Sucked into the Upside Down through the Lover's Lake gate, she is caught in a trance by Vecna, who reveals his real name, Henry Creel, and shows her the future: four portals, Hawkins torn apart, her family dead. She gets out, and leads the assault on the Upside Down version of the Creel house with Steve and Robin. It is she who fires the rifle shots that finish putting Vecna to flight. The vision, for its part, comes true: the rift opens.
1987Season 5: the radio
Under the quarantine, Nancy hosts with Jonathan and Steve the pirate radio WSQK, which broadcasts coded messages to the survivors, and coordinates with Mike the incursions into the Upside Down. Trapped with Jonathan in a room that is collapsing, she has with him the conversation they had been putting off for years: they part, on good terms. On the lab roof, she brings down with one shot a mysterious sphere that threatens the group. She goes through the final battle, and the May 1989 epilogue shows her free, without the show assigning her anyone.
What defines her
Barb died while she was with Steve. Everything Nancy does afterward, she does so that this death counts.
She is the best shot on the show, adults included. Hopper notices, the Russians too. She never brags about it.
The lab, the rats, the Creel house: Nancy looks, notes, cross-checks. When the others are afraid, she has a question.
She breaks up with Steve because their couple is a lie, she brings down the lab because it lies. The truth is her weapon, before the rifle.
Their ties
| Person | What he or she is to Nancy | The key moment |
|---|---|---|
| Barbara Holland | The lost best friend, the original fault | The pool, November 1983 |
| Steve Harrington | The first love, never quite finished | The Halloween 1984 breakup; the looks of 1986 |
| Jonathan Byers | The investigation partner who became a companion | Murray's motel, 1984; the breakup, 1987 |
| Robin Buckley | The 1986 investigation partner, the unexpected friend | The visit to Victor Creel |
| Mike Wheeler | The little brother she protects, then with whom she commands | The 1987 incursions |
| Murray Bauman | The paranoid journalist who saw through her | The escape to the Hawkins Post, 1984 |
Another piece from the selection: a piece inspired by Nancy Wheeler.
In the shopLego Nancy Wheeler mini figure on bike14,90 €See the product
Not to be confused
| People often say | In reality | The landmark |
|---|---|---|
| Nancy ends up with Steve | No: she breaks up with Jonathan, and the show pairs her with no one | The May 1989 epilogue |
| Nancy is possessed by Vecna | She is put into a trance, like Max; he shows her the future | Lover's Lake, 1986 |
| Barb dies because of Nancy | Barb is killed by the Demogorgon; Nancy carries the guilt, not the blame | The truth leaked in 1984 |
| Nancy is Will's sister | She is Mike's sister; Jonathan is Will's brother | Two families, two couples |
A rarer confusion: Nancy is not Jonathan's girlfriend from season 1. They grow closer in 1983, but she stays with Steve; it is only in 1984, at Murray's, that they give in. The show took two seasons for a couple it will undo in one conversation, in 1987.
Our Nancy Wheeler products
Nancy is one of the strongest female characters on the show: posters, T-shirts, and accessories inspired by the hunter of Hawkins. We pick every piece ourselves, and claim nothing beyond our passion for the show.
To complete the reading: a piece inspired by Nancy Wheeler.
In the shopKids' Nancy Wheeler striped sweater outfit72,90 €See the product
Frequently asked questions
Who is Nancy in Stranger Things?
Nancy Wheeler is Mike's big sister, a model student in 1983, whose best friend Barb vanishes in Steve's pool. She allies with Jonathan Byers, buys a rifle, enters the Upside Down, and becomes, season after season, the investigator and the shooter of the group.
Do Nancy and Jonathan end up together?
No. Together since 1984, they drift apart in season 4, when Nancy's feelings for Steve come back. In season 5, trapped in a room that is collapsing, they part on good terms. The May 1989 epilogue shows Nancy free, without the show assigning her a partner.
What does Nancy see in her Vecna vision?
The future. Unlike the other victims, to whom he shows their past, Vecna reveals to Nancy his real name, Henry Creel, and lets her see four portals opening, Hawkins cut in two, and her family dead. The vision partly comes true at the end of season 4, when the rift tears the town apart.
How does Barb die in Stranger Things?
On the night of the party at Steve's, in November 1983, Barb cuts her hand opening a beer and bleeds at the edge of the pool. The Demogorgon, drawn to the blood, takes her into the Upside Down. Nancy discovers her body there. The truth comes out in 1984, when Nancy and Jonathan bring down the lab.
Is Nancy a journalist?
Yes, as early as 1985: an intern at the local paper, the Hawkins Post, with Jonathan, she investigates the Flayed despite the newsroom's contempt. In 1986, she runs the school paper and investigates Vecna's murders. In 1987, she hosts the pirate radio that links the survivors of Hawkins.
Who plays Nancy Wheeler?
Natalia Dyer has played Nancy since 2016. The images on this page come from the show and its promotion; they remain the property of their rights holders.