Stranger Things Season 5: How Henry Creel's Past In Vol 1 Connects To Broadway Play The First Shadow

Did

you know that besides the Netflix series, there is another Stranger Things experience for fans to enjoy? Stranger Things: The First Shadow , which is playing at the West End in London and on Broadway in New York City, is a prequel story of sorts that tells the story of Henry Creel, aka Vecna. Directed by Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin, The First Shadow is written by Kate Trefry, one of the writers on the show.

Henry Creel's past in The First Shadow

In the play, Henry Creel's origin story is unveiled. It is revealed that Henry Creel did not acquire his powers at birth. As a young boy, he had disappeared for 12 hours; he disappeared into another dimension, aka the Upside Down, and returned a different boy. Acquiring new psychokinetic powers, he becomes vindictive, hurting animals and later moving up to murdering his family, mother Virginia and sister Alice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64zDRZA2N_I

Before her death, Virginia sends Henry to Dr. Brenner after he blinds his girlfriend Patty Newby's father. Patty is the sister of Bob Newby (Sean Astin), Joyce's boyfriend, whom viewers meet in Season 2. The younger Dr. Brenner is fascinated by Henry because his father, a captain in the US Navy, traveled to the Upside Down with his ship. Hearing tales about this other world from his father, Brenner becomes obsessed with what's behind the gate. Connection to Stranger Things Season 5 Vol 1 How is all this relevant to the Netflix series? In episode 4, Sorcerer, Max (Sadie Sink), is trapped inside Henry's (Jaime Campbell Bower) memories. She meets Holly Wheeler (Nell Fisher), who is the most recent abductee to the Upside Down, and calls her to her hideout, the cave. Max tells Holly that Henry will not enter the cave. In fact, he's downright terrified of the place. That's because the cave has stolen technology from the Philadelphia Experiment, which Brenner's father was a part of. Holly also finds Henry's missing spyglass, which he leaves behind in the cave.ALSO READ: Stranger Things Season 5: How Holly Wheeler In Upside Down Reminds Us Of Alice In WonderlandIn the play, it is indicated that the cave is the place where the young Henry first went missing and was taken over by the Mind Flayer. There are some hints that the Mind Flayer could be controlling Henry to do its bidding. Interestingly, the play also reveals that Henry's blood was used as a transfusion for the young children at the Hawkins lab. This means subjects like Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) and Eight, aka Kali (Linnea Berthelsen), could have Henry's blood in them, raising the significance of them teaming up against him.

Significance of November 6

The majority of the fans know that November 6, which is celebrated as Stranger Things Day, is also the day Will Byers disappeared and was taken in the upside down. Through Max, Season 5 takes viewers back in time to 1959 to Henry's high school days. Some familiar faces are spotted as students, like Steve Harington's father, Joyce Maldonado, Jim Hopper, and the Wheelers before marriage, Karen and Ted. One key clue that stands out is a flyer for the play Oklahoma for one night only, November 6, 1959.

The play ends up in disaster, and Henry loses Patty once more and ends up back in Hawkins lab. Is it a coincidence that nearly 20 years later, Henry targets those who had wronged him in high school? The Duffer Brothers, Matt and Ross, have stated that fans will know why Will was chosen in Season 5. The First Shadow is based on a story by the Duffers, Jack Thorne, and Trefry, making it official in the Stranger Things universe. Ross told Entertainment Weekly, "The Broadway show sort of becomes this little connective tissue between the seasons itself," and the show would further go back in time to show the past of Hawkins. With the remaining episodes arriving in December, fans will soon get the whole picture.