‘Stranger Things: The First Shadow’ Trailer: Henry Creel Realizes He’s Not Quite Normal

Greg Evans
·2-min read

Netflix and Sonia Friedman Productions today released the first look trailer for the world premiere West End production of Stranger Things: The First Shadow, taking the moment to also announce an extension into 2025 of the production’s London run.

This past March, casting notices for a Broadway production suggested a New York run for Stranger Things: The First Shadow is in the works.

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In the new trailer, the telekinetic Creel (played on the West End by Louis McCartney) is depicted in a sort of prequel to the events of the Netflix TV series. Specifically, a terrified Creel is just beginning to suspect his gifts, and seems none too thrilled. “I’m Henry Creel. I’m normal. It’s not real. I’m normal. It’s not real. I’m normal. It’s not real. I’m normal. It’s not real. I’m Henry Creel.”

As the trailer makes clear, it is, indeed, real. And Henry is far from normal: He is the younger version of the TV series’ Jamie Campbell Bower character who evolves into the season four villain Vecna in the Netflix series.

The play’s logline: “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.”

The play is written by Kate Trefry with direction by Stephen Daldry and co-direction by Justin Martin. It opened to strong reviews at the Phoenix Theatre on December 14, 2023, and is not booking until February 16, 2025.

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