The first image has been shared of the upcoming Stranger Things stage spin off, Stranger Things: The First Shadow.
The theatre prequel, which is being staged at London’s Phoenix Theatre, is set to start on December 14, with previews having begun this week (November 17).
Netflix and Sonia Friedman Productions have shared a production still, featuring a young Henry Creel (played by Louis McCartney) facing down a Demogorgon in a richly coloured, misty setting under a swirling cloud of bats. See the image below.
Stranger Things: The First Shadow is set in 1959 and will follow young versions of Jim Hopper, Bob Newby and Henry Creel. The writers have also confirmed that the opening act of the play is titled Chapter One: The Girl From Nowhere.
The show’s official synopsis reads: “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 directed by Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot, The Reader), from an original story by Stranger Things creators The Duffer Brothers, Jack Thorne and Kate Trefry.
Preview shows run until December 13, with tickets available here.
Earlier this month, the writers of Stranger Things shared a description of the opening scene from Season Five, which they began working on in September.
“DARKNESS. The sound of COLD WIND,” the script reads. “GROANING TREES. And… A CHILD’S VOICE. Singing a familiar song.”
It’s unclear whether the “familiar song” is simply a famous track or a song previously used in the show – with the fourth season featuring ‘Running Up That Hill’ by Kate Bush and Metallica’s ‘Master Of Puppets’.
In September, Stranger Things producer Shawn Levy teased the cinematic ambitions of the show’s final season.
“There’s no way to be contiguous with season four, and not, frankly, expand scale and depth,” Levy said. “It’s major, major, cinematic storytelling that happens to be called a TV series. Stranger Things 5 is as big as any of the biggest movies that we see.”
Speaking to NME, co-creator Matt Duffer confirmed the final season will be paced differently in comparison to previous seasons.
“Typically in the previous seasons, everything wraps up in a nice bow,” Matt said. “Four and five are really [connected] together. [With five], there’ll be no wind-up time – like even this season, you get to experience the kids and what they’re going through in high school before things start to escalate. Then it gets crazier and crazier and crazier – that’s typically the trajectory. Five, you’re just going to be right in the middle of it so it’s going to feel very, very different.”
Filming on the fifth season is scheduled to start this year, which will consist of eight episodes. A release date has yet to be announced.
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