‘Stranger Things’ play is officially coming to Broadway

“Stranger Things: The First Shadow,” a play based off Netflix’s wildly popular show “Stranger Things,” is coming to Broadway.

According to Deadline , the play will start previews at the Marquis Theater on March 28, 2025. It will officially open on April 22.

The show previously premiered at West End in 2023, as the Deseret News reported at the time.

It won two Olivier awards in 2024 for best entertainment play and best set design, per Deadline.

The cast of Broadway’s “Stranger Things: The First Shadows” hasn’t been announced yet, according to Deadline.

What is the plot of the ‘Stranger Things’ play?

According to Deadline , “Stranger Things: The First Shadow” is based off an original story by the Duffer brothers, the creators of “Stranger Things,” and is “rooted in the mythology and world of the TV series.”

The play is a prequel to “Stranger Things.”

The official plot reads : “Before the heartstopping events of the 80s, way before Mike, Will, Eleven & the gang embarked on their heroic journeys, Hawkins was just a regular town with regular worries.”

The plot description continues, “It’s 1959 and a 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.”

Ross Duffer, half of the Duffer brothers, said that he and his brother wanted to explore Henry Creel’s background — aka Vecna, the big bad guy of “Stranger Things,” who is first introduced in Season 4.

“So the first idea was to explore Henry’s backstory and then we realized he would be the same age as a teenage Joyce and Hopper and Bob, which is something we always wanted to do,” Duffer said, per Netflix . “We love the ‘50s almost as much, if not more than the ‘80s. So it was an excuse to do something in this time period and to explore what they were up to in high school.”

“Stranger Things: The First Shadow” gives fans an opportunity to see beloved characters as teenagers. According to Netflix, Joyce, Hopper and Bob are seniors in high school, and Henry Creel is a freshman.

‘Stranger Things: The First Shadow’ reviews

“Stranger Things: The First Shadow” received mostly favorable reviews when it opened in West London in 2023:

• The Guardian gave it five stars, writing, “Those familiar with the series will be able to trace storylines back but the production is not just a clever parlour game for fans. If you come at it afresh, it is still irresistible.”
• Variety wrote, “Nothing in the town of Hawkins can ever be taken for granted, but this has the feeling of a major hit.”
• The New York Times wrote that “Stranger Things” was suffering from “franchise fatigue.” They wrote, “‘Stranger Things: The First Shadow’ achieves what it sets out to do, and die-hard fans will surely lap it up — but it may well prove to be a death throe. The real spectacle here is that of a franchise eating itself.”
• BBC gave “Stranger Things: The First Shadows” four out of five stars, writing, “A show like this is artistically successful if it’s enjoyable in its own right but also provides an authentic-feeling addition to the ‘Stranger Things’ universe. It ticks both those boxes.”
• The Hollywood Reporter praised the play’s special effects, writing, “There are smoke effects, bursting flashbulbs and some of the most impressive and varied usages of the physical stage I’ve ever seen.”