How Is the ‘Stranger Things’ Play Connected to the Final Season?

As Stranger Things approaches its fifth and final season, the Netflix phenomenon is expanding its universe in a new way.

Its stage prequel, Stranger Things: The First Shadow, transports audiences to 1959 Hawkins, Indiana, decades before Eleven and her friends ever faced the Upside Down. While the play isn’t directly tied to Season 5, it offers new insights into the story and even shares an actor with the new season, hinting at subtle ties between both versions.

The play follows a young Henry Creel long before he becomes Vecna, the villain who drives the show’s final chapter. Henry and his family — parents Virginia and Victor and younger sister Alice — move to Hawkins after Henry blinds a boy in Nevada the same way he does in Season 4.

He crosses paths with the younger versions of familiar characters, such as Joyce Byers (then Maldonado), Jim Hopper, and Bob Newby. As the three investigate a string of animal killings happening across town, their lives begin to intertwine with Henry’s dark path, and they’re the ones who first claimed Victor Creel was behind the violence and the Creel massacre depicted in Season 4.

The play was written by Kate Trefry, who also wrote for the television show, and developed from an original story created by the Duffer Brothers. The First Shadow works as both a standalone story and a prequel. In other words, you don’t necessarily need to see it ahead of the release of Season 5.

Manuel Harlan / Netflix

However, it does add new layers to the Stranger Things universe. Not only do audiences get to see the origin story of Vecna, but they also see the younger versions or ancestors of almost every major adult character from the series. The parents of Lucas, Will, Dustin, and Mike are all featured, along with lesser-known characters like Lonnie Byers and Alan Munson, the father of Season 4’s Eddie.

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You Might Want to Check Out 'Stranger Things' Play Before Final Season

Each of these characters knew Henry, and virtually all of them had an impact on him, which may further explain Vecna’s fixation on using Hawkins as the epicenter for his master plan. Their past knowledge is likely to resurface as they prepare for the final battle to defeat the ruler of the Upside Down.

The play plants the seeds for all that unfolds in the Netflix series, diving into the backstories for Vecna and the Hawkins Laboratory, such as how and why the children were experimented on. It also reveals that Henry Creel wasn’t always evil, and he even initially attempted to resist the evil forces corrupting him.

However, he was ultimately exploited by Dr. Brenner, who manipulates him as his first test subject. The First Shadow delves into the pair’s relationship more than we see on screen, showing just how much influence Brenner had on the events in the Netflix series.

“Dr. Brenner’s love for Henry failed him, and you get to see how he failed him,” Louis McCartney, who plays Henry Creel on Broadway, told TV Insider earlier this year. “The crux of their relationship is this strive for power, to be the pinnacle of evolution, to be a god, and to take control. It’s all Henry wants. So when our relationship fizzles a little, and we don’t have that anymore, you get to see why they are the way they are in the TV show — why they hate each other through love, and how it all started between them.”

The younger, less experienced version of Dr. Brenner is portrayed by Alex Breaux, who also plays Lt. Akers in Season 5 of the Netflix series. Breaux stars alongside Linda Hamilton, who plays Dr. Kay, a government agent hunting down Eleven.

Manuel Harlan / Netflix

“Every episode is like an epic movie,” Breaux told TV Insider about the final season. “There’s eight episodes, and you’re going to enjoy all the hallmarks of previous seasons with a maturity and impending darkness that these friends have to fight against.”

Season 5 may also feature another aspect of The First Shadow, such as the original character Patty Newby. The adopted younger sister of Season 2’s Bob Newby, she’s the first to befriend Henry at Hawkins High. The two ultimately form a romantic relationship (yes, you heard that right) that drives the story forward.

She was the only one to give Henry a chance, standing by him even after he blinded her adopted father (who’s also the school’s principal) in front of her. It’s not a typical love story, though, which aligns with where audiences first meet Henry in the Netflix series.

“She [Patty] plays a pivotal part in Henry Creel’s story,” Gabrielle Nevaeh, who plays Patty, told TV Insider. “We get to explore his nobility — that childlike innocence of falling in love for the first time, that yearning for acceptance, that yearning for love. The two of them have had kind of a rough life, and they’re both broken spirits that are trying to find their way.”

Though her fate between 1959 and the events of the Netflix series is unknown, her impact is significant enough that she may be referenced — or even appear — in Season 5.

So, is The First Shadow essential viewing before the final season? Not exactly, but it does deepen the narrative of the Stranger Things universe and gives fans more to uncover about Vecna’s beginnings. Whether or not its revelations make their way into Season 5, the play proves the series still has plenty of darkness left to explore.

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