“Stranger Things: The First Shadow” cast pulls back the curtain on prequel stage play

The stars behind new and familiar "Stranger Things" characters preview the "absolutely insane" production.

The cast of Stranger Things: The First Shadow has already mastered the art of talking about something without actually talking about something. It’s part of the job when you join Stranger Things. You know, spoilers!

They can't even talk about their favorite sets and stage elements to the play that serves as a prequel to the storyline in the hit Netflix series. “I’m afraid if we tell you anything, it would just spoil it," says Christopher Buckleym, who plays a younger version of Sean Astin's Bob Newby. "It would ruin the beginning of the show,” adds Isabella Pappas, playing young Joyce Maldonado. (Adult Joyce, as fans know, is portrayed by Winona Ryder on the TV series).

What about Ella Karuna Williams, who stars as a new character to the Stranger Things lexicon, Bob's sister Patty? “In Act 2, there's this thing I get to do that I don't think I would ever have gotten to do if not for this,” she says, while acknowledging how vague she’s being. The answer is so vague not even her costar, Louis McCartney, a.k.a. young Henry Creel/future Vecna, knows what she’s talking about. 

“It’s the end of Act 2…ish,” she tells him from a spare dressing room on a dinner break from rehearsals on a Tuesday in late November.

“Oh yeah!” McCartney exclaims, jogging his memory. “That’s one of my favorite scenes.”

Not everything about The First Shadow, which goes back to the origins of the Upside Down, is this shrouded in shadow and mystery, however. EW can exclusively reveal new images from the upcoming play, which is currently in previews at the Phoenix Theatre in London's West End before its opening night on Dec. 14. McCartney hypes it up best: "It's absolutely insane. It is bonkers. [It will] blow your mind away."

Directed by Stephen Daldry and co-directed by Justin Martin, Stranger Things: The First Shadow goes back to 1959, the year the Creel family relocated to the rural town of Hawkins. Fans of the TV drama know the name Henry Creel, a.k.a. No. 1, Dr. Martin Brenner’s very first child psychic who would become infamously known as Vecna and the master of the Upside Down. But in this original story in the Stranger Things canon — penned by series writer Trefry, the Duffer Brothers, and Jack Thorne — he's much more of a naive and curious child.

"Henry Creel is on a journey with his family," McCartney explains. "They moved from Rachel, Nev., after an incident, which wasn't the best of things to happen to them. They're trying to look forward, but it's hard with their own personal dynamic that lingers and eats at them. The Creel family is, I dunno if I'm allowed to swear, but they're pretty mucked up."

While Robert Englund and Tyner Rushing played Henry's parents on Stranger Things, Michael Jibson and Lauren Ward now play Victor and Virginia Creel in The First Shadow. Lurking in the periphery of Henry is Dr. Brenner. As opposed to Matthew Modine's malevolent research scientist of Hawkins' secret laboratory, Patrick Vaill plays him in his 30s. The actor describes Modine's Brenner as "a very put-together fortress of a man," while his take on Brenner has "perhaps not built that up yet." He adds, "We get to see the not-yet-assembled version of that and maybe explore how a person gets to be that way."

The most fun McCartney has as baby Vecna is playing opposite Williams, whose 14-year-old Patty Newby forms a "sweet dynamic" with Henry in high school, the actress says. "She's a bit of a nerd, but in the best way," Williams adds. "She's really into comic books, and she comes across very confident and sassy. But, of course, with any other teenage girl trying to figure herself out in high school, there's underlying things that she's going through. Meeting Henry helps her come to terms with who she is. I feel like they both figure each other and themselves out through getting to know each other."

And instead of Finn Wolfhard's Mike Wheeler, Noah Schnapp's Will Byers, Gaten Matarazzo's Dustin Henderson, and Caleb McLaughlin's Lucas Sinclair, The First Shadow shows a different generation of teenage sleuths of strange occurrences. That would be Pappas' Joyce, Buckleym's Bob, and Oscar Lloyd's younger Jim Hopper (the stage play counterpart to David Harbour). "I think a lot of Stranger Things and this town of Hawkins is the idea of history repeating itself," Lloyd says. "The kids grow up and then their kids are the same as what they were."

Pappas sees Joyce as more of an outcast in high school. She's currently working on a play, which creates this play-within-a-play for The First Shadow. "Being a woman in the '50s is probably a very different experience to being a woman in the '80s in certain ways," Pappas says. "Especially being a teenage girl in the '50s is interesting. She sticks out a lot more in that time period than she does maybe in the TV show." Joyce also happens to be stuck in a not-so-great relationship with Lonnie Byers (Chase Brown), the future father of her son Will. But that doesn't stop her flirtation with Hopper. "All the Jopper fans are going to go nuts when they see this," Buckleym says, referring to Joyce and Hopper's shipper name.

Hopper, meanwhile, is 18 when we find him at the start of The First Shadow. Lloyd thinks of him as "a slightly cynical wise guy" who, like Joyce, is trying very much to leave Hawkins. He lives with his dad (Shane Attwooll), the current Hawkins Police Chief who often gives him a hard time. "He's desperately trying to prove his dad wrong and that he's not going to become like him," Lloyd explains. "His dad never got out of town, and for Jim, it's a big thing."

Then there's Bob, who, very much like Astin's portrayal of the character on Stranger Things, has terrible timing when it comes to love. "He's a smart kid and a tech whiz, but in the '50s that's not a cool thing," Buckleym says. "He is very much a loser in the school and in social circles. Despite being very good natured and earnest, he's running away from a lot of trouble that's going on in his household. He's desperately trying to find love and friendship and acceptance, which he does find to an extent throughout the play."

The trio form an unlikely bond once strange things start to happen in Hawkins. What's the main difference between these three characters in the play and who they eventually grow up to be on the show? "They're just slightly less traumatized maybe," Pappas responds. "But they'll get there! Don't worry." Guess that's not too much of a spoiler.

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