‘Stranger Things’ Is Coming to the London Stage With a Prequel Tale

The Upside Down is coming to London’s West End: Stranger Things will make its stage debut later this year at the Phoenix Theatre.

Titled The First Shadow, the stage play is penned by show writer Kate Trefry and directed by Stephen Daldry (The Crown, Billy Elliott). It’s based on the Duffer Brothers’ popular Netflix series, but is set in 1959 Hawkins and features young versions of familiar characters, including Jim Hopper, Joyce Maldonado, and Bob Newby.

“When new student Henry Creel arrives, his family finds that a fresh start isn’t so easy,” according to an official synopsis(Opens in a new window). “And the shadows of the past have a very long reach.”

Season four viewers are familiar with Henry, who, after moving to Indiana—SPOILER ALERT—discovers he has psychokinetic abilities and can manipulate perceptions of others. The misanthropic and nihilistic 12-year-old uses his powers to psychologically torture his family, eventually killing his mother and sister, before being taken to Hawkins National Laboratory for study by Dr. Brenner.

Twenty years later, Henry—now an orderly in Brenner’s lab—befriends another of Brenner’s subjects, Eleven, who overpowers Creel and sends him through a gate to the Upside Down, where he gradually transforms into the being known as Vecna. Battles ensue, Kate Bush experiences a resurgence, and, despite their efforts, Eleven & Co. fail to defeat Vecna.

That’s all in the future, though. The First Shadow focuses on the past. “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.”

Details about the stage play are scant; there is currently no official debut date or cast list. Fans may, however, sign up for priority access to tickets when they go on sale.

Less than a week after the heart-pounding conclusion to Stranger Things 4 dropped in July, Netflix and the Duffer Brothers announced their new production company, Upside Down Pictures, and a slate of in-development projects. That includes a live-action TV adaptation of Japanese manga and anime series Death Note, an original series from Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews (Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance), an adaptation of Stephen King and Peter Straub’s The Talisman, and, of course, a Stranger Things spin-off (based on an original idea by the Duffers).