Stranger Things on Netflix may be coming to an end after season 5, but the spinoffs have only just begun. The first one is heading to the stage as Stranger Things: The First Shadow is going to London’s West End later this year.
The play is set 25 years before the events of Stranger Things season 1 “before the world turned upside down.” The play will focus on younger versions of four characters from the series: Jim Hopper, Joyce Maldonado, Bob Newby, and Henry Creel.
The official logline reads: “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.”
The First Shadow is based on an original story from Stranger Things creators the Duffer Brothers, Jack Thorne (Enola Holmes 2), and Kate Trefry, a writer for Stranger Things. Trefry will pen the play, and Stephen Daldry (Together) will direct with Justin Martin (The Lovers). The play will run at London’s Phoenix Theatre.
“Collaborating with the brilliant Stephen Daldry has been nothing short of inspiring, and Kate Trefry has written a play that is at turns surprising, scary, and heartfelt,” the Duffer Brothers said in a statement. “You will meet endearing new characters, as well as very familiar ones, on a journey into the past that sets the groundwork for the future of Stranger Things.”
Stranger Things: The First Shadow will officially open in the West End in autumn 2023.
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