One of Stranger Things 5’s Biggest Storylines Pulls Info From ‘The First Shadow’

Fans settling in for Stranger Things Season 5 may want a quick refresher on The First Shadow, the franchise’s stage prequel that dives into Hawkins decades before the Upside Down tore through town.

The play is set in 1959, and follows younger versions of characters viewers already know including Henry Creel, Joyce Maldonado, Jim Hopper and Bob Newby. While it doesn’t change existing canon, it gives clearer context for how the darkness around Henry started long before the Creel family ever moved into their infamous house on Morehead Street.

The story tracks Henry as a teenager struggling with strange visions, sudden blackouts and a growing sense that something inside him is changing. His parents bring him to Dr. Brenner who, as fans would expect, becomes deeply interested in Henry’s abilities.

Those early interactions lay the groundwork for Brenner’s later MKUltra experiments at Hawkins Lab and his obsession with developing psychic children like Eleven.

Joyce, Hopper and Bob appear as Hawkins teens in The First Shadow dealing with their own normal problems, but the play hints at how the eerie events surrounding Henry affect the town as a whole. Audiences also see Henry’s connection to a mysterious force that seems like it will definitely come into play before the show is finished.

The key takeaway for Stranger Things Season 5 viewers is that Henry’s transformation didn’t begin with the massacre at Hawkins Lab. The First Shadow establishes that whatever is inside him has been there since he went missing in a cave system in Nevada for 12 hours when he was just a young child.

None of the events contradict the series, but they add important backstory to Henry’s origin story and help explain why he ultimately becomes Vecna, the show’s most dangerous villain.

If fans want the full picture going into season 5, understanding those early breadcrumbs helps the final season come into better focus.