The paranormal town of Hawkins is finding a new home in London this year. “Stranger Things: The First Shadow,” a new play directed by Stephen Daldry based on the global sensation from Netflix, will premiere at the Phoenix Theatre in London’s West End later this year.
The play, produced by Netflix and Sonia Friedman Productions, gathers the talents of BAFTA winner Stephen Daldry (“The Crown,” “Billy Elliot”), and writer Kate Trefry — who is a writer and co-producer of the Netflix series — to tell the story of Hawkins decades before the young characters in the TV series were born. The original story is by the show’s creators, the Duffer Brothers as well as Jack Thorne and Kate Trefry.
This prequel spinoff play will be set in Hawkins in 1959, a regular American town with everyday worries. It stars the much younger Jim Hopper and high-school-aged Joyce Maldonado whose lives are pretty typical until a new student named Henry Creel arrives in town. Soon Creel’s family discovers that a fresh start is not so easy, and the shadows of the past have a long reach.
“Stranger Things” was an instant hit on Netflix when it first premiered in July 2016. The show’s fourth season, which was released in 2022, is the most popular English-language TV program on Netflix, with 1.35 billion hours viewed. The Duffer Brothers, who created the series and also mapped out the story for “Stranger Things: The First Shadow,” are thrilled to introduce fans of the series to this new live show.
“We are beyond excited about ‘Stranger Things: The First Shadow.,’” they said. “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. 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.’”
Tickets for this play, which is all but guaranteed to be a sensation, will go on sale this spring, and further details will be announced later this month. Priority access to tickets will be given to those who register today at strangerthingsonstage.com.
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