Stranger Things features a number of powerful character arcs, but a personal favorite of the bunch is Nancy Wheeler’s evolution from timid student finding her way in the high school social scene to a sheer force who’s willing to throw herself into danger to fight for her loved ones. That epic transformation is exactly what we break down in this new edition of Collider Ladies Night with Nancy Wheeler herself, Natalia Dyer.
In Season 1 of Stranger Things, Nancy is inspired to step up and face the Upside Down after Barb’s (Shannon Purser) disappearance. It’s a mighty powerful early point of change for the character, and it's something that the Duffer Brothers continued to build upon as Nancy’s circle of loved ones grew and as the threat of the Upside Down intensified. Throughout much of Season 2, Nancy teams with Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) to expose Hawkins Lab, and then in Season 3, she applies that tenacity to overcoming intense disrespect from the staff of the Hawkins Post to see an investigation through that proves vital to battling the Mind Flayer.
As we see in Stranger Things 4, Episode 9, “The Piggyback,” every single character proves vital to the plan to defeat Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower), but Nancy in particular shows off an especially essential ability to assess the threat and figure out what's necessary to power through the mission, a quality that will undoubtedly be crucial to saving Hawkins in the show’s final season.
Before jumping head first into Nancy’s Stranger Things 4 fight, Dyer took some time to retrace her steps in the industry thus far, beginning with highlighting how valuable her mother’s support proved to be when discovering her passion for acting.
“She was really into finding extracurriculars for her children. We did soccer and ice skating and dance class and painting and sculpture and sports, and we’d try it for a little bit and then if we didn’t like it, it’s like, ‘Okay, we’ll find something else that you like.’ It was a privilege and a luxury and really lovely for her to do that. But I was at a summer camp and got into this drama class and I just really liked it, and I think she could tell. We started going to auditions locally for little community theater things and it just kind of took. I was very in love with that world and doing it. My mom didn’t know anything about it, but she was just very committed to taking me to auditions and taking me to rehearsals and just allowing me to [be] able to do the thing that I really enjoyed doing as a kid.”
Eventually, acting went from something Dyer enjoyed doing as a kid to becoming a craft with some serious career potential courtesy of her “big break,” scoring the role of Nancy in Stranger Things. However, that opportunity would force her to leave New York University behind.
At this point, given the show’s monumental success, the decision does seem like a no-brainer, but at the time, Netflix wasn’t the streaming juggernaut it is today, and how could anyone know Stranger Things would go on to become one of its most successful series? While there might have been a touch of uncertainty when choosing between school and the show, Dyer did trust her gut and, clearly, the decision paid off big time. She explained:
“It happened pretty fast. I think we got cast in August and I was meant to go back maybe a month or two later for the next semester, so I had already signed up for all my classes for the next semester. In some ways, there’s maybe a slight hesitation, probably more so from my parents ... you know, it was the early days of Netflix and they had done a couple of really, really good shows, but it wasn’t what it [is] today, what we think about as Netflix. But it was still really exciting. And I think there’s this idea that, follow it, see where it goes and school is there later. You can always go back to school, which is a nice thought. Probably more complicated in reality. But yeah, I was very excited. It felt cool and the project itself was really different and interesting.”
Even though Nancy’s changed significantly from Season 1 to where she is now, Dyer insisted she’s had a consistent core quality ever since she first scored the role, it’s just something that’s evolved a good deal along the way. Here’s how she put it”
“There is an essence of her that I think is carried through really nicely that ties these two ends of the spectrum together pretty well, which is this sort of intuition, gut instinct to sort of follow her own brain and her own path. I think she was a lot more concerned with appearances and school and success and achieving in her small understanding of her small town, you know? I think she always was very ambitious, but I just think her ideas of what that means and what that can be have shifty wildly, and she’s really stepped into this totally new exciting, brave, powerful side of herself.”
Dyer further elaborated on Nancy’s willingness to essentially jump into dangerous situations feet first:
“It’s interesting whenever she sort of blatantly throws herself into danger I think, because there’s something about her initially at least that felt maybe a little more timid and a little more play by the rules. And I think things like Season 1 even, going into the tree, the first time she’s got a gun, and I think there’s a lot of times in this season where every time she’s just kind of like, I don’t care about necessarily me or the fact that I’m not thinking about it as much as I’m trying to figure this out or get to the bottom of it or stop something; I think that says a lot, that she is very kind of focused. And she’s not perfect. I think she makes a lot of mistakes and I think within that there’s caveats of pros and cons, but it does really inform a character who just decides, ‘This is what I’m gonna do. This is what we’re doing, this is what needs to be done in this moment, right now, and I’m gonna do it.”
Nancy applies that exact thinking and determination to a number of decisions she makes in Season 4, but there is one particular beat that really puts Nancy’s ability to overcome sheer terror to the test — her encounter with Vecna when he reveals what’s to become of Hawkins and her loved ones. She’s clearly shaken when she conveys the information to the group, but soon after, her fight returns, and she’s completely focused, not on that impending doom, but rather, on how she can put her own life on the line to stop it. Dyer discussed what it is about Nancy that allows her to make such a quick shift:
“I think Nancy really does compartmentalize a lot of emotions. I think since Season 1 and everything that they’ve been through, I think her sort of coping mechanism is just logic and focus and fight and just not accepting that as a reality, not letting herself crumple into her feelings. And I think with the whole Vecna journey, it’s this thing of she knows what’s going on. It’s still scary, but he’s just trying to trick her, so she’s very smart. It’s [a] shifting of, that was insane, but also, what can I do about? I think since Season 1, it’s like, okay, this is wild, this is scary, this is heartbreaking, but what can I do to change that outcome and to change this feeling in myself probably? But yeah, she’s funny. She’s pretty tough I think with herself and her emotions.”
Those are qualities that will likely continue to be invaluable in Stranger Things 5, something that's evident in the final shot of Nancy in the Stranger Things 4 finale. Here’s what Dyer had to say about what’s going through Nancy’s head when she’s standing on that hill watching her hometown become consumed by the Upside Down:
“I think for Nancy there’s a moment of a shock. I think maybe prior to that there was a little bit more calm or a little more faith in hoping that things would work out and then seeing that is just a big, ‘Oh no.’ But I’m sure, in her mind, it’s an, ‘Oh no. Okay, what are we gonna do?’”
Looking for more on Dyer’s journey from acting at summer camp to scoring a starring role in one of the most popular series out there right now? You can watch her episode of Collider Ladies Night at the top of this article or listen to the 40-minute conversation uncut in podcast form below: