A Key Stranger Things Story Is Coming To Netflix - Is It Too Little Too Late?

The fifth and final season of "Stranger Things" had an alternate dimension's worth of ground to cover, and that's true whether you think the finale wrapped up proceedings in a touching and satisfying manner, or if you were personally affronted by the conclusion. While the majority of the series' primary characters and most major plot threads were addressed, there was one fairly glaring omission: the full backstory of Henry Creel aka Vecna aka 001 aka Mr. Whatsit (Jamie Campbell Bower), as well as his relationship to (and the origin of) the Upside Down dimension and the Abyss world. To be sure, the biggest plot points concerning these topics were touched upon by the end of the final season, and yet there was still a notable incompleteness to it.

There's a reason for this, of course, and it's that all of these backstory questions are explored within an ancillary tie-in production: "Stranger Things: The First Shadow," a stage play co-written by creators The Duffer Brothers, which premiered in London in 2023 before finally arriving on Broadway in New York City last year. The trend of original franchise tie-in stories produced for the stage began with "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child," but where that play is a sequel tale set decades after the novels, "The First Shadow" is a pretty key part of the mythology of "Stranger Things." 

Understanding the inaccessibility of all fans of the series to travel to NYC, Netflix has confirmed (via Collider) that the play will be professionally filmed for a forthcoming release on the streaming service. However, now that the hype surrounding the series has died down and the future of the franchise is uncertain, the airing of the play could be too little, too late.

Leaving aside the issues with a filmed version of a stage play for now (more on that later), the very idea of releasing a key chapter to the "Stranger Things" story after the fact is one that feels trepidatious. Even if the finale to the series hadn't been met with such an overwhelming wave of revulsion (though not from me, it must be said), the prospect of getting more backstory filled in at a late stage doesn't feel all that enticing. Sure, the "Star Wars" prequel trilogy established an appetite for franchises to delve into the narrative past, but there aren't too many prequels that are beloved by the majority, including those George Lucas films. Even ones which have their fans, like Ridley Scott's "Alien" prequels and "The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes," have almost as many detractors.

What's more, those are all movie prequels; things get trickier when it comes to television. While TV has a long-standing history of successful spin-off shows, that hasn't always translated to prequels. One series which attempted to continue telling stories in a prequel space is the '00s version of "Battlestar Galactica," which followed up its also-contentious finale episode with two prequel films ("The Plan" and "Blood & Chrome") as well as a short-lived prequel series, "Caprica." While these were generally enjoyed by fans (and, in the case of "Caprica," felt largely underrated), it became clear that the definitive, divisive ending to the series had closed the book on it. While Netflix seems bullish on continuing "Stranger Things" with this airing of "The First Shadow" and the upcoming "Tales from '85," they may discover that the series' ship has already sailed.

In general, I do believe that Netflix and Matt and Ross Duffer owe fans some form of access to the "First Shadow" story, so it's proper that they plan on making it available. It's also great that they're using the show's original cast for the filming, too. However, filmed versions of stage productions are often a mixed bag. They typically feel more like a souvenir or supplemental experience, simply because it's impossible to capture the exciting immediacy (and intimacy) of live theatre on film. By most accounts, "The First Shadow" is a heckuva great show, with attendees citing the inventive staging and effects that the production pulls off. It'll be a shame that a large number of folks' experience seeing it will be in a diminished capacity.

The real fix for this issue is something that is actually too late to do, which is for the Duffers to have put a version of the material from "The First Shadow" into the series itself. That way, the full backstory could've been relayed to the whole audience, while attendees of the play could keep the uniqueness of the stage experience for themselves. Filming the stage play is the most appropriate backup plan, but it does feel more like a mea culpa than not. As "The Hunger Games" is already debuting its own spin-off stage show, it raises the question about how these types of productions should be handled in the future. 

My best advice is for them to provide unique experiences all their own and not be too essential to the series as a whole. Otherwise, the whole enterprise could end up feeling less special and more like a compromise.