Stranger Things Play Is A Prequel Set In 1959
A return to the Upside Down is coming sooner than expected. As reported by SlashFilm, the stage play Stranger Things: The First Shadow is headed to the Phoenix Theatre in London this November. Set in 1959, the show’s synopsis promises the arrival of Victor Creel, aka Vecna, to Hawkins when he was just a boy, teasing a tie-in to the show’s upcoming finale season.
Stranger Things: The First Shadow is a prequel that will tie into the show’s final season, making it essential to get the full story.
The trailer for the Stranger Things play begins on a tube television set, rewinding through key moments of the hit Netflix series, all the way to a young Victor Creel in 1959. Red light from within bursts a hole in the screen. The camera zooms in to find the red light hovering over a theater stage.
It ends with teasing text: “The beginning of the Stranger Things story might hold the key to what comes next.”
What comes next is the fifth and final season of the hit Netflix original series. The WGA writers’ strike has indefinitely delayed the hotly anticipated finale season. With no end to the work stoppage in sight, the final confrontation with Vecna is likely still several months or even a couple of years away.
In the meantime, Stranger Things: The First Shadow will tide at least some lucky audience members over with its prequel story. The First Shadow was conceptualized by Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer, along with Jack Throne and Trefry. The show is being directed by Billy Elliot helmer Stephen Daldry.
Stranger Things: The First Shadow will include young versions of the adults in the main series, from Jim Hopper to Joyce.
This throwback story will imagine 80s adults as 50s teenagers, a la Back to the Future, giving a fresh take on some of the series’ main characters. Jim Hopper is described as a teen who can’t get his car to start, Bob Newby as a kid trying to get his radio show off the ground, and Joyce, with her maiden name of Maldonado, as a high school senior chomping at the bit to leave Hawkins.
Where Stranger Things: The First Shadow will likely have the most bearing on the Netflix series is its storyline about Victor Creel and his family. Season 4 of Stranger Things introduced the Creel family, all of whom were murdered by Victor, except for the father, who was sentenced to life in prison for their deaths.
Why Victor Creel Is Important
The chilling tale marked the dark beginnings of Victor Creel, a boy with telekinetic powers that Dr. Brenner harnessed at the Hawkins Lab. Victor grew up under Brenner’s watchful eye with his powers suppressed. When he manipulated Eleven into removing his inhibitor, Victor massacred the kids and staff at the lab.
Eleven dueled Victor, tearing open a portal to the Upside Down that swallowed Victor. He then became even more powerful, disfigured, and connected to all the strange creatures in the eerie parallel dimension.
Dubbed Vecna by the kids in Hawkins, Victor Creel is coming back to take over the Earth – starting with Hawkins. It seems Stranger Things: The First Shadow may shed important light on Creel’s origins that will impact the course of the coming showdown.
Hopefully, by November, the writers’ strike will be over, and Season 5 of Stranger Things will be on its way to wrapping up the mystery teased by The First Shadow.
