‘Stranger Things: The First Shadow’ May Reveal Key Season 5 Plot Twists—Here’s What We Found

Heads up, Hellfire Club members, there are strange spoilers ahead. 

Henry Creel might be normal, but the number of Easter Eggs in the new Broadway play Stranger Things: The First Shadow definitely isn’t. Not only do they give viewers the chance to learn more about the mysterious Upside Down, but they also get more backstory about who Joyce Byers, Jim Hopper, Ted and Karen Wheeler, Bob Newby and others were when they attended Hawkins High School way back in 1959. 

First for Women recently got the chance to attend a preview of the play, and trust us when we say it’s one wild, strange and jaw-dropping ride from start to finish. Keep scrolling to learn more about the little details we noticed and how they could affect the Hawkins, Indiana gang in Stranger Things Season 5! 

Watch a sneak peek of the Broadway show in the trailer below! 

‘Stranger Things: The First Shadow’ easter eggs—plus how the play differs from the show

We learn a lot of backstory 

Sure, the play focuses a lot on Henry Creel (Louis McCartney)—who we will discuss more later—but it also highlights Joyce Byers—née Maldonado (Alison Jaye), Jim Hopper (Burke Swanson) and Bob Newby (Juan Carlos). 

Through the play, we learn that Joyce’s family runs a barber shop, Jim’s dad is actually the police chief and Bob has a sister! It is also revealed that Ted (Jamie Martin Mann) and Karen Wheeler, née Childress (Dora Dolphin) actually did like each other at one point and that he is the same age as her, which is different from the TV show, where viewers are told he’s older. 

And what would a Stranger Things play be without a Henderson and a Sinclair? In the Broadway show, we officially meet Dustin’s (Gaten Matarazzo) dad, Walter Henderson (Ian Dolley), whose family runs a liquor store, as well as Lucas Sinclair’s (Caleb McLaughlin) dad, Charles Sinclair, who is a bit of a class clown. 

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The Creel family is just as creepy as you would expect 

In Season 4 of Netflix’s Stranger Things, viewers are introduced to the Creel family, who moved to Hawkins in the 1950s. Shortly after their arrival, though, the mother, son and youngest daughter are believed to have been killed by their father, however,as the season goes on, it’s revealed that their son Henry (played by Raphael Luce and later Jamie Campbell Bower in the TV show) has telekinetic abilities and was actually responsible for the murders. 

In the Broadway play, this is touched on, but the plot mainly centers around how Henry got to that point. Throughout the 2-hour and 45-minute production, viewers see the young boy come to terms with the fact that he is, in fact, not normal, and has some sort of magical power inside of him that cannot be controlled. He thinks it’s a fun gift that he can use to impress Patty Newby (Gabrielle Nevaeh)—the girl he likes—but others see it as a curse, and by the end of the play we see Henry go on a full on killing rampage, ending the life of his family as well as several pets. 

Fun fact about Henry Creel: Louis McCartney, the actor who plays him in the Broadway play, also originated the role in the West End production. He is the only cast member they brought over from London. 

The Hawkins Lab’s origin story is revealed 

A big part of the show revolves around the Hawkins Lab in the Stranger Things universe. It’s where Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) learns how to harness her powers, it’s also where the gate to the Upside Down is and so much more. 

In the play, we learn so much about it. First, we get details on why Dr. Brenner (Alex Breaux in the play, Matthew Modine in the show) created it to study his father, who got special blood after visiting an alternate dimension during a military operation named Rainbow that went wrong. We also learn that Henry Creel has that special blood, and after being trained by Dr. Brenner, that blood is transfused into the other children at the Hawkins Lab. 

Now, in the show, Henry Creel is revealed to be both Vecna and 001, and viewers learn that during his time in The Hawkins Lab—more especially the Rainbow Room, which was mostly named after Dr.Brenner’s father’s mission—he really bonds with Eleven and even teachers her how to find her inner strength. In the end, though, it was revealed that he was just using her, and in a fit of rage, Eleven opens a gate and sends him to the Upside Down.  

This isn’t shown in the play, but the production ends with Henry meeting Eleven and guiding her into The Rainbow Room, paving the way for this storyline. 

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The Upside Down becomes more confusing and terrifying 

Based on the backstory we learn in Season 4 of Stranger Things, it is believed that Vecna—a.k.a Henry Creel, a.k.a 001—not only committed the murders, but also runs the Upside Down. In the play, however, we learn that that could not be further from the truth. 

It has, and always will be, the Mind Flayer. They are the ones causing the hallucinations and violent outbursts that eventually lead to Henry snapping and killing someone. 

This doesn’t mean that the Mind Flayer gave Henry his powers. In fact, we still have no idea where those came from; they are amplified just when he listens to the radio. Maybe that question will be answered in Season 5, who knows? 

How ‘Stranger Things: The First Shadow’ could affect Season 5 of ‘Stranger Things’ 

A big question for viewers is how Stranger Things: The First Shadow will affect Season 5 of Netflix’s Stranger Things, and while we don’t have an official answer yet, there are a lot of possible ways that it could—and most likely will–happen. 

The first potential way is through Joyce and Jim. While the folks in Indiana are learning all about the Creel family, Joyce (played by Winona Ryder) and Jim (played by David Harbour) are working to be reunited in Russia, meaning that they don’t know that their kids know about The Creels. So, once they all reunite and catch each other up on what’s happening, Joyce and Hopper may share that they knew Henry Creel in high school, and that these murders that end in people losing their eyeballs isn’t a new thing, since it happened to a bunch of pets back in the 1950s. 

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Another thing that could happen is Patty Newby’s return. In Season 2 of Stranger Things, viewers meet Bob Newby, superhero (Sean Astin), who is sadly killed by a demogorgon. We never learn much about his back story during his time on the show, just that he and Joyce went to high school together. That all changes in the play, though, when we meet his sister Patty, who bonds with Henry and even witnesses his powers a few times. 

Patty does make it out alive and eventually moves to Las Vegas, Nevada, to be with her birth mom, opening the door for a potential cameo in Season 5 of Stranger Things. If we were picking a storyline, we would vote for Joyce and Jim to go on a road trip to Las Vegas to find her, but that’s just us. 

Stranger Things: The First Shadow is being performed at the Marquis Theatre in New York City. There is no current end date, and you can buy tickets here. Season 5 of the Netflix show is set to air sometime in 2025.