News

Netflix and Sonia Friedman Productions today released the trailer for the critically acclaimed world premiere production of Stranger Things: The First Shadow. With some of the groundbreaking theatrical special effects teased on film for the first time, the show has announced an extension into 2025 at the Phoenix Theatre.

Written by Kate Trefry and with direction by Stephen Daldry and co-director Justin Martin, the production opened to rave reviews at the Phoenix Theatre on December 14, 2023.

The show, currently breaking box office records at Phoenix Theatre, where it is now booked until 16 February, has recently won several awards, including the Olivier Awards for Best Entertainment and Best Set Design, the Critics’ Circle Awards for Best Set Design and Most Promising Newcomer, and the WhatsOnStage Award for Best New Play.

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,...

Stranger Things: The First Shadow, a prequel play to the Netflix hit drama Stranger Things, is headed to London’s West End this month. In honor of “Stranger Things” Day, or the day Will Byers went missing in Hawkins back in 1983, Netflix released a new clip previewing Stranger Things: The First Shadow, with key creatives and cast behind the play describing the on-stage plot and special effects.

Matt and Ross Duffer, who both created the Netflix series, collaborated with writer Kate Trefry and screenwriter Jack Thorne (Harry Potter and the...

A new look at “Stranger Things: The First Shadow,” a prequel play based on the blockbuster Netflix series that begins previews on stage in London this month, has been released.

The promotional video – which includes numerous backstage looks at the production, as well as some new interviews with “Stranger Things” creators Ross and Matt Duffer – debuted on Monday as part of “Stranger Things Day.”

Here’s the logline for the new play, which takes place in 1959 and focuses on the origins of Henry Creel (who later becomes the villainous Vecna and is played by Jamie Campbell Bower in the Netflix series):

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...

While much time still stands before the conclusion to the Duffer Brothers’ “Stranger Things” Netflix series, with Season 5 awaiting a deal for its actors, the prequel play — “Stranger Things: The First Shadow” — will give audiences a glimpse further into the past and the origins of the Upside Down.

Set in 1959 Hawkins, the play will focus on the arrival of Henry Creel to “a regular town with regular worries.” Teenage Jim Hopper, Bob Newby and Joyce Maldonado also star, as does a younger Dr. Martin Brenner (Patrick Vaill), who began the cruel experiments on Young Henry.

As with any new iteration of “Stranger Things,” there’s a new crucial character — this time, it’s Patty Newby (Ella Karuna Williams). There is also a Principal Newby (Matthew Pigeon), but that figure is of less importance to the plot.

“The main thrust of the story is Patty and her little budding romance with Henry,...

We’re getting the first look at Stranger Things: The First Shadow, a live stage show based on the hit Netflix series. Netflix and Sonia Friedman Productions have released some rehearsal images for the stage show that opens at the Phoenix Theatre in London’s West End on Dec. 14, with previews beginning Nov. 17.

The First Shadow is set in 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.

Written by Kate Trefry, and directed by Stephen Daldry, with co-direction by Justin Martin, the cast includes Shane Attwooll (Chief Hopper), Kemi Awoderu...