‘Stranger Things: The First Shadow’ first look unveiled, stage play previews start in November [Watch]

Christopher Rosen
·3 min read
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A new look at “Stranger Things: The First Shadow,” a prequel play based on the blockbuster Netflix series that begins previews on stage in London this month, has been released.

The promotional video – which includes numerous backstage looks at the production, as well as some new interviews with “Stranger Things” creators Ross and Matt Duffer – debuted on Monday as part of “Stranger Things Day.”

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Here’s the logline for the new play, which takes place in 1959 and focuses on the origins of Henry Creel (who later becomes the villainous Vecna and is played by Jamie Campbell Bower in the Netflix series):

Hawkins, 1959: a regular town with regular worries. Young Jim Hopper’s car won’t start, Bob Newby’s sister won’t take his radio show seriously and Joyce Maldonado just wants to graduate and get the hell out of town. When new student Henry Creel arrives, his family finds that a fresh start isn’t so easy… and the shadows of the past have a very long reach.

“Stranger Things” writer and producer Kate Trefry wrote the play based on a story by Trefrey, the Duffer brothers, and “Enola Holmes” and “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” writer Jack Thorne. The play is directed by Stephen Daldry and co-directed by Justin Martin.

The cast features actors playing younger versions of some beloved “Stranger Things” characters, including Chief Hopper (David Harbour), Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder), and Bob Newby (Sean Astin). Here’s the cast list:

Shane Attwooll (Chief Hopper), Kemi Awoderu (Sue Anderson), Chase Brown (Lonnie Byers), Christopher Buckley (Bob Newby), Ammar Duffus (Charles Sinclair), Gilles Geary (Ted Wheeler), Florence Guy (Karen Childress), Max Harwood (Alan Munson), Michael Jibson (Victor Creel), Oscar Lloyd (James Hopper Jr.), Louis McCartney (Henry Creel), Isabella Pappas (Joyce Maldonado), Matthew Pidgeon (Principal Newby), Calum Ross (Walter Henderson), Maisie Norma Seaton (Claudia Yount), Patrick Vaill (Dr. Brenner), Lauren Ward (Virginia Creel), Ella Karuna Williams (Patty Newby), and Anika Boyle, Faith Delaney, and Imogen Turner (alternating the role of Alice Creel); with Tricia Adele-Turner, Lauren Arney, Samuel Baxter, Reya-Nyomi Brown, Patricia Castro, Lydia Fraser, Isaac Gryn, Mark Hammersley, Benjamin Lafayette, Tom Peters, Kingdom Sibanda, Tiana Simone, Danny Sykes and Meesha Turner.

“Stranger Things: The First Shadow” will seemingly tie directly to events depicted in the fourth season of “Stranger Things.” In the promo video, Trefry promised numerous Easter eggs for show fans. Those little hidden treats will have to satiate viewers of “Stranger Things” for a while since the show’s fifth and final season remains in a holding pattern due to the current actors’ strike. Once that is settled, however, it’s expected “Stranger Things” Season 5 will go into production soon after with a premiere date scheduled for sometime after 2024.

As for “What is ‘Stranger Things’ day?” Here’s how Netflix describes this calendar date:

On November 6, 1983, Will Byers went missing in Hawkins, Indiana. Long after the town gave up the search, his friends kept looking… and discovered a mysterious girl known only by a number: Eleven. She was alone, hunted, and extremely powerful. Eleven would stop at nothing to help them find their friend. Stranger Things fans everywhere celebrate November 6 as ‘Stranger Things Day,’ a special day to share their love for the world of Stranger Things.

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