The Big Picture
- Netflix and Sonia Friedman Productions have released the first glimpse of the stage play adaptation of Stranger Things, titled The First Shadow, which will serve as a prequel to the main series.
- The play is set in 1959 in Hawkins, Indiana, and will explore the backstory of characters like Jim Hopper, Joyce Maldonado, Bob Newby, and Henry Creel, who becomes the main antagonist in the fourth and fifth seasons.
- The final season of Stranger Things is expected to feature eight episodes, including a 2.5-hour series finale. The release date for Season 5 has not yet been announced.
Today, Netflix and Sonia Friedman Productions unveiled the first tantalising look at the new original stage play, Stranger Things: The First Shadow, introducing the first act titled “Chapter One: The Girl From Nowhere.” The production is written by Kate Trefry and helmed by the acclaimed director Stephen Daldry, the winner of three Tony Awards and three-time Academy Award nominee for Billy Elliot, The Hours and The Reader.
The first public preview of the highly anticipated stage adaptation launches this evening in London’s West End at the Phoenix Theatre. Those lucky enough to be in attendance were treated to a window into a part of Hawkins, Indiana never before seen, as the original story brings fans of the series to 1959. The stage play will act as a prequel to the main series, ahead of the fifth season of Stranger Things which has recently resumed production.
The play sees the characters of Jim Hopper, Joyce (Byers) Maldonado, Bob Newby and Henry Creel — the tortured young man who would end up cast into the Upside Down and turned into the deplorable Vecna, the main antagonist of the fourth season and inevitably, of the fifth season too.
What is the ‘Stranger Things’ Play About?
According to the show’s official synopsis, the play will take us back to the beginning, long before Eleven and Will ever appeared on our screens:
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.
Brought to life by a multi-award-winning creative team, who take theatrical storytelling and stagecraft to a whole new dimension, this gripping new adventure will take you right back to the beginning of the Stranger Things story – and may hold the key to the end.
When Will The Final Season of ‘Stranger Things’ Air?
Star David Harbour confirmed last week that the series production was resuming imminently on Netflix’s flagship series. Series creators Matt and Ross Duffer have previously revealed that the final season is expected to feature eight episodes with an epic 2.5-hour series finale. The writing duo, after the end of the WGA strike, revealed the opening lines from the first episode. The episode from which the new script lines were revealed is titled “Chapter One: The Crawl,” the cover of which was shared last Stranger Things day in 2022. Director Shawn Levy previously told Collider that the final season will be “epic and very emotional.”
There is currently no release date for Stranger Things Season 5. For further ticket information, performance schedule, full creative team and cast bios, fans can visit strangerthingsonstage.com.
Stranger Things
When a young boy vanishes, a small town uncovers a mystery involving secret experiments, terrifying supernatural forces and one strange little girl.
- Release Date
- July 15, 2016
- Cast
- Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Cara Buono, Finn Wolfhard
- Main Genre
- Sci-Fi
- Genres
- Sci-Fi, Drama, Horror
- Rating
- TV-14
- Seasons
- 5
- Studio
- Netflix
- Creator
- Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer