Stranger Things: The First Shadow is a brand new play coming to London's West End in late 2023. Written by Stranger Things staff writer Kate Trefry and directed by Stephen Daldry (known for Billy Elliott: The Musical and his work on The Crown), the show will serve as a prequel to the popular Netflix, telling a story of the young Vecna, Henry Creel, in the days when he first moved to Hawkins, Indiana. Here's the official synopsis:
Before the world turned Upside Down…
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.
To be clear, none of that means that should be interpreted to suggest that David Harbour and Winona Ryder will be performing on stage, reprising their respective roles as Hopper and Joyce. But presumably they'll at least appear as characters in some way in this hoppin' 50s story?
Here's a Teaser trailer that very lightly teases and tells you absolutely nothing, via Twitter:
In the meantime, production on the fifth and final season of the show is slated to begin in just a few months, although there's no official release date set.
A Stranger Things Prequel Play Is Headed to London's West End [Chris Murphy / Vanity Fair]
