The latest addition to the cast of Stranger Things is a Kiwi at heart. In the show's fifth and final season, the London-based actor, Fisher, takes on the role of Holly Wheeler, the younger sister of Mike and Nancy. The excitement and challenge of joining such a beloved series were palpable for Fisher, who had just finished a long day of shooting the family film Bookworm on a rainy Canterbury hillside.
"What had been a pretty exhausting day turned into one of the best days of my life," Fisher shared with RNZ's Saturday Morning. The prospect of stepping into the shoes of Holly Wheeler, a character previously played by twins Anniston and Tinsley Price, was both thrilling and daunting. "You're putting quite a lot of yourself out into the world doing these performances, and you're not necessarily sure how the world is going to receive it, what they're going to think of it," Fisher explained.
Holly's journey in this season will be a significant one. "Holly really gets thrown in the thick of things… she really gets thrown in on the action. I am basically a walking spoiler, so I'm trying to tiptoe my way around this," Fisher revealed. The actor also shared a heartwarming anecdote about developing a realistic mother-daughter connection with her on-screen mother, Karen, played by the "wonderful and incredibly talented" Cara Buono. "We spent about two days in a bathtub, just laughing our heads off and having so much fun," Fisher recalled.
Fisher's previous experience in the horror film Evil Dead Rise, shot in New Zealand, proved beneficial for her role in Stranger Things. The show's creators, Matt and Ross Duffer, take a "real" approach to filming supernatural scenes, and Fisher appreciated having tangible effects to react to. "Quite a lot of the effects are actually there while you're filming, which is quite useful to be able to have something you can react off of," she noted.
Despite her nerves, Fisher's passion for acting and her family's support made her feel at home on set. "I take what I do seriously, so it is just finding a real emotion, then expanding on it, and putting it in my situation and in my character, and then it all sort of snowballs," she said. The cast's camaraderie was evident, especially during the table read for the finale, which was emotional and informal. "We were just kind of sitting on sofas, all like wet with tears," Fisher described.
Fisher's love for performing is deeply rooted in her genes. Her father, Toby, an actor-turned-lawyer who played a teenager with cancer in the 1993 film The Whole of the Moon, has been a "massive help." However, before Stranger Things, Fisher felt like an outsider on movie sets. "Now I feel like I am an actor, and I am here to stay, which is really exciting," she said.
As the show's final season approaches, Fisher is taking a well-deserved break after a hectic year. "Last year was fantastic and amazing, but it was also quite exhausting, so I've been taking a bit of a break, getting back to normality, but I'm really excited to see what the new year holds," she said. Fisher's Kiwi roots will be on full display when the finale airs, as she plans to be in New Zealand for Christmas and New Year's, ready to celebrate with her fellow Kiwis when the world discovers the show's conclusion.
