“And you can just sort of skip past it which I actually found was really nice that I could actually have a place with a bit of normality.”
Nell was around 12 when filming Stranger Things Season 5, turning 14 during production in 2024. She took over the role of Holly Wheeler from younger actresses to play a bigger, more central part.
Landing the role was pure “serendipity” as Nell wore her hair in pigtails to look younger for her audition, and it just so happened to be Holly Wheeler’s signature style.
She said: “When I was doing the audition I was meant to be 10 years old and I was 11 when I auditioned, I find that when I put my hair up in pig tails it makes me look younger.
“What I didn’t know is that that’s actually Holly’s signature look so it was a bit of Serendipity. After the audition, I had a Zoom call with the Duffers, they explained that the part was Holly and I still didn’t quite get how big the part was, then I read the script and was like wow. It was all pretty incredible.”
Before auditioning, Nell had never watched Stranger Things – because her mother, Laura Clarke, a British diplomat, thought the sci-fi series was too frightening for her young daughter.
She admitted: “I have been lobbying to watch it for a long time, but my mum claimed that it would be too scary, she meant it would be too scary for her! But then I got this audition and it was like … so first of all, ‘Oh I could be in Stranger Things, that’s exciting.’ But my main thought was ‘OK, I now get to watch it!’
“So I just started and I didn’t stop and I went all the way from one to four and I just remember thinking what an amazing show it was and how incredible it would be to be on it.”