The Stranger Things play will be "integral" to the show going forward, says writer

The Stranger Things play writer Kate Trefry says that the events of The First Shadow will be "integral" to the Netflix show's final season.

"There are referential sequences and imagery and callbacks and flashbacks to the events of the play in Stranger Things season 5 that will still make sense to you if you don’t see the play, but you’ll have a deeper understanding of them if you do," Trefry tells SFX magazine in the new issue, which features David Tennant as Doctor Who on the cover. "It’s in conversation with the seasons prior and the season to come," Trefry says, "It really informs everything that you have seen and will see."

Set in Hawkins 1959, Stranger Things: The First Shadow acts as a prequel to the events of the series and follows a young Jim Hopper, Bob Newby, and Joyce Maldonado as they navigate high school life when a new student with a dark past, Henry Creel moves into town. 

In Stranger Things Season 4 we learn that as a young boy, Creel used his psychokinetic abilities to torture and kill his family, which ultimately led to him being taken in by Dr Martin Brenner and became the first child test subject in his laboratory, with El later becoming number eleven. Over time, Creel used his powers for evil and turned into the entity known as Vecna, ruler of the Upside Down, AKA the root of all chaos in the world of Stranger Things.

According to Trefry, the play will fill in some gaps regarding Creel’s origin and will offer a "different perspective," that will allow audiences "to understand why he is the way he is." Not only this, but what happens in the play will also set up the final season of the show which is expected to be released sometime in 2025, making it a must-see for fans. 

The first performance of Stranger Things: The First Shadow will take place on December 14 at the Phoenix Theatre in London.

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The above is just a snippet from our interview with writer Kate Trefry about Stranger Things: The First Shadow, which you can see more of in the latest issue of SFX Magazine, which features Doctor Who on the cover and is available on newsstands from Wednesday, November 1. Keep up to date with all things SFX by signing up to the newsletter, which sends all the latest exclusives straight to your inbox.