The Meaning Of Mr. Whatsit In Stranger Things Season 5, Explained

This article contains spoilers for "Stranger Things" season 5, episode 1 — "Chapter One: The Crawl."

Imaginary friends, huh? On "Stranger Things," a show that thrives on mind control and paranormal deception? Surely, that will go well. 

The "Stranger Things" saga starts in 1983 and the events of season 5 take place in 1987. This means that Mike Wheeler's (Finn Wolfhard) younger sister Holly (Nell Fisher) is now old enough to take a more active part in the narative. Speaking of narratives, Holly seems to have grown into an avid reader, and the "Stranger Things" season 5 premiere ("Chapter One: The Crawl") shows her reading Madeleine L'Engle's 1962 fantasy classic "A Wrinkle in Time." She's also acquired an imaginary friend who absolutely isn't quite as imaginary as one might think, called Mr. Whatsit. Oh, and the show doesn't spell it out too much, but the book and the imaginary friend also share a pretty important connection.

A major character in "A Wrinkle In Time" is called Mrs. Whatsit. She's a shapeshifter and a supernatural dimensional traveler who guides the 13-year-old protagonist Meg and her friends through the universe. Ava DuVernay's 2018 "A Wrinkle in Time" movie and the 2013 TV movie adaptation both feature the character in a significant role — played by Reese Witherspoon ("Walk the Line") and Alfre Woodard ("12 Years a Slave"), respectively. 

Curiously enough, Mrs. Whatsit is accompanied by two other similar beings, Mrs. Which and Mrs. Who, which may or may not be a sign of (stranger) things to come. Since Holly is currently enthralled by L'Engle's book, it's not terribly surprising that she would have an imaginary friend who shares the Whatsit name ... or, perhaps, that a malevolent entity might have chosen that particular moniker to influence Holly.   

The introduction of Mr. Whatsit won't be the last time "Stranger Things" season 5 tips its hat to "A Wrinkle in Time." Fans — and /Film's own BJ Colangelo — have speculated endlessly about the titles of "Stranger Things" season 5 since the title of "Chapter One: The Crawl" dropped way back in 2022. The title of the forthcoming episode 6 ("Chapter Six: Escape from Camazotz") is even more interesting, at least from "A Wrinkle in Time" standpoint. 

In "A Wrinkle in Time," Camazotz is a seemingly normal but tightly scheduled suburbia-themed planet where even the kids skipping ropes do so in the same rhythm. This eeriness comes courtesy of the novel's villain, IT.  The antagonist is a disembodied brain that can exert its mind control over the entire planet ...  not unlike what Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) does to the Upside Down. 

If we're going Deep Wrinkle, an argument could even be made that the scary but misunderstood creatures who live on the planet Ixchel in "A Wrinkle in Time" are comparable to the "Stranger Things" Demogorgons. After all, both have the capacity of at least some benevolence toward humans, as demonstrated by the book's Aunt Beast and D'Artagnan the Demodog in "Stranger Things" season 2. "Stranger Things" has always worn its references quite proudly on its sleeve, and season 5 does seem to go so all in with "A Wrinkle in Time, " so who knows? Perhaps the Demogorgons are ultimately just misunderstood beasts, much like the scary denizens of Ixchel.

"Stranger Things" season 5, volume 1 is streaming on Netflix.