A Wrinkle in Time has already been a huge part of Stranger Things 5 so far, and it might even be more important to the story than fans realize.
Holly Wheeler (Nell Fisher) is seen reading A Wrinkle in Time in the first episode, "The Crawl," and her not-so-imaginary friend, Mr. Whatsit (Jamie Campbell Bower), who actually happens to be Henry Creel, is a direct reference to Madeleine L'Engle's classic kids story. And, I think we're going to see the rest of the season play out similarly to A Wrinkle in Time.
For those unfamiliar, A Wrinkle in Time tells the story of Meg Murry, a young girl, who travels to the planet Camazots with her brother, Charles Wallace, and friend, Calvin, to rescue Meg's father. He's imprisoned on Camazots, a utopic planet controlled by IT, giant brain, basically. Camazots is not the first planet to fall under the power of the Black Thing, which, as far as we know, also has some power over IT.
Anyway, Meg travels to the planet with the help of Mrs. Whatsit, a celestial being, and she rescues her father, but in the process, her brother gets possessed by IT, and Meg is forced to leave the planet without him. But, she can't just leave her brother, can she? No, she goes back, and she uses love, basically, to help snap her brother out of IT's control before heading home.
A Wrinkle in Time can't be a coincidence! There are already too many similarities, as we mentioned with direct references to Mrs. Whatsit and Camazots. The Mind Flayer is also basically the Black Thing from A Wrinkle in Time. It takes what it wants and hijacks all beings, demogorgon and human, to do it's bidding. And, we already know that Vecna has a plan to "reshape the world." There are multiple instances of that so far in the series. It's almost eerie how similar they are.
After watching all four episodes of Stranger Things 5, I have a feeling that we're going to see a similar storyline Vol. 2 or in the finale, but I just don't know how exactly it's going to play out. There are a few different theories that could fit.
To me, there's no doubt this part of the story is going to play out in Vecna's memories. The sixth episode of the season is titled, "Escape from Camazots." Remember, Holly and Max (Sadie Sink) are stuck in Vecna's memories, which Holly referred to as Camazots from A Wrinkle in Time, which is the book her class at school is currently reading, of course.
If the Duffers continue to pay homage to A Wrinkle in Time, Max and Holly are going to work together to best Vecna to escape Camazots, but will one of them, likely Holly, be unable to leave Camazots, just like Charles Wallace? Then, someone else, or even Max, has to go back and convince Holly to fight back against Vecna before she can actually escape.
I think that's possible!
We've already seen this in Stranger Things before, too. Remember, Billy (Dacre Montgomery) was possessed by the Mind Flayer, and Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) was able to walk through his memories. She used those memories—the happy, loving ones—to help Billy fight himself free of the Mind Flayer's grasp. It proves that one can, with a strong will or with love, fight back against the possession. We don't know for how long, but it can be done.
So, I would assume Max and Holly's storyline will play out similarly to A Wrinkle in Time, but it might be even more than that.
There's a theory going around that suggests Henry Creel isn't actually bad, but that he was possessed by the Mind Flayer in a cave before he moved to Hawkins. It all comes back to the events of the stage play, Stranger Things: The First Shadow. The theory suggests that Henry is actually fighting back against the Mind Flayer by taking the kids in order to build an army to be able to tap into the hive mind to use powers to defeat the Mind Flayer.
Now, taking that a step further, could Henry be using A Wrinkle in Time as a blueprint for these kids to follow after they are taken?
We don't know the extent of his powers. I do think that he could convince the teacher, Ms. Harris (Hope Hynes Love) to teach about A Wrinkle in Time, get the kids to trust him as Mr. Whatsit, a direct reference to Mrs. Whatsit, who is the very trustworthy being who guides Meg through her journey, and then remind the kids he is taking that love is the most powerful force in the universe, stopping the Mind Flayer once and for all. It's a bold assumption to make this early in the season, but it's possible.
Perhaps, Henry will need someone, potentially Eleven, to remind him of what the love feels like to finally remove himself from the Mind Flayer's grasp?
We'll find out just how big of a role A Wrinkle in Time plays in Stranger Things 5, but I have a feeling it's going to be a big one!
Watch Stranger Things 5 Vol. 2 on Christmas Day at 8 p.m. EST!