How Netflix Is Expanding Stranger Things' Shadow

The Mind Flayer casts a shadow wherever it goes… from the Upside Down to Broadway. Midway through Stranger Things: The First Shadow—Netflix’s first production to tread the boards in the beating heart of American theater—the gargantuan spider-like creature from beneath Hawkins, Indiana, appears in the long-legged flesh. Towering above the stage of Manhattan’s Marquis Theatre, the Mind Flayer’s larger-than-life appearance stuns the crowd into silence. That silence is almost immediately broken by the sustained cheers and applause of the Stranger Things faithful, who paid between $60 and $300 a ticket to experience the show’s world in three dimensions. (For the record, a $300 seat for The First Shadow is equivalent to a one-year premium tier Netflix subscription.) And The First Shadow goes to great lengths to replicate the streaming experience in a theatrical setting, from the note-perfect recreation of Stranger Things’ opening credits to the cheeky “Next Episode” button that pops up as the audience heads to the door. “This is all very much a part of the entire experience of watching the show,” confirms Kate Trefry, the longtime Stranger Things scribe that sibling creators Matt and Ross Duffer handpicked to write The First Shadow. “We’re crossing mediums, but it’s all part of the same story.” Set in the 1950s, the play is technically a prequel to the events of the show. But it’s also a glimpse of the franchise’s future once the mothership series ends its five-season run later this year. Netflix has been preparing for Stranger Things’ next chapter for some time now, expanding the brand into different media, including books, video games, retail products, and live experiences. “We’re always thinking about what a compelling next version of the story could look like,” says Josh Simon, Netflix’s vice president of consumer products. “But we’re doing it to entertain fans—not just create more stuff in the world.” At the same time, the pop culture value of a brand like Stranger Things means that Netflix can’t afford to not create more stuff when the show ends. “The Stranger Things fanbase is so loyal, what company would want to let them go?” observes Kendall Phillips, a professor and pop culture expert at Syracuse University. “The key will be whether Netflix is able to keep that fanbase engaged with the world of Hawkins.” The First Shadow features teen versions of characters like Joyce, Bob Newby, and Hopper. The road to Broadway In a strang(er) way, Stranger Things and Netflix have grown up together. The series debuted in the summer of 2016, only a few years into the DVD-by-mail company’s makeover as a streaming-forward original content producer. Despite a quiet launch, that first season made an immediate impression, attracting over 14 million viewers in its first 35 days. Trefry joined the Stranger Things writing staff during Season 2 as the Duffer brothers expanded the show’s vision and lore, and Netflix built out its own consumer infrastructure. A mobile game arrived in the iOS and Android stores ahead of the sophomore year’s October 2017 premiere, and the following year brought a line of Penguin Random House books, a Dark Horse comic series, and collectible toys from major toymakers like McFarlane. Flash-forward to the present day, and Stranger Things is one of Netflix’s premier licenses and affords brands over $27 million in placement value. “It’s a classic example of convergence culture,” notes Phillips, pointing to Game of Thrones and the Marvel Cinematic Universe as complementary analogues. “It’s driven by fans who want more of their favorite characters or worlds, and producers who hunger for a transmedial franchise because it offers multiple revenue streams.” Creatively, Stranger Things’ many and varied brand extensions have built out the franchise without building on top of it. Trefry says that the early waves of books, comics, and games were intended as non-canonical tales that made use of existing characters and storylines, but had more freedom with the mythology. That changes with The First Shadow, which is part of official Hawkins history. Developed concurrently with the show’s fourth and fifth seasons, the play provides the Duffer-authorized origin story of Henry Creel a.k.a. Vecna—the Big Bad behind all of the town’s supernatural goings-on. At a recent screening event, the siblings revealed that the material was originally intended to be part of Season 4, but was sacrificed for lack of available screentime. “We didn’t have room to put in everything that we wanted to about Henry,” Ross Duffer remarked. A strange encounter in Stranger Things: The First Shadow. Instead, the details of Henry’s pre-Vecna existence built the bones for The First Shadow, which premiered in London in 2023 before making the trip to Broadway. Besides Henry, the show features teenage versions of the show’s core adult cast, including David Harbour’s Hopper and Winona Ryder’s Joyce. Trefry also resurrects Bob Newby—Season 2’s dearly departed Radio Shack tech wiz played by Sean Astin—and introduces his previously unmentioned adopted sister Patty, who forms an unlikely bond with Henry. Interestingly, The First Shadow suggests that Patty may still be alive and living somewhere in Nevada in the 1980s—a state that some of the Stranger Things teens visited in Season 4. Asked directly whether this new character will factor into the show’s endgame, Trefry artfully dodges the question. “There are definitely Easter eggs, but it’s more about having an intimate understanding of some of these big characters,” she says carefully. “You understand them in a totally different way.” “It was tricky to make this story feel integral to both past seasons and a future one,” Trefry adds. “I couldn’t introduce anything in the play that would compromise the experience of watching Season 5.” Millie Bobby Brown in Season 4 of Stranger Things. Return on investment Broadway shows are already pricey propositions, and a super-sized Mind Flayer doesn’t come cheap. Neither does an opening scene involving a U.S. Navy ship running aground in dimensions unknown. Simon declines to reveal the exact budget for the Broadway version of The First Shadow—a more effects-intensive production than the London iteration—but indicates that Netflix is well aware that maintaining the creative vision of the Stranger Things brand comes with a cost. “Our vision was to deliver a caliber of production value, spectacle, and storytelling that are synonymous with what the Stranger Things series is known for,” Simon remarks. “We want to make sure fans love it—and if they do, the financial piece works itself out.” Per Broadway World, The First Shadow has grossed over $4 million since it opened for previews at the end of March, averaging over $1 million per week in the last two weeks of April. (Returns for the London version aren’t publicly available, but the show has been running for a year-and-a-half in the West End.) That’s on par with some of the bigger shows of the current season, including Death Becomes Her and Gypsy. The First Shadow's spectacle awarded it several Tony nominations. The First Shadow has also earned Netflix its first-ever Tony nominations. Louis McCartney—who originated the role of Henry Creel in London and crossed the pond to Broadway—is up for Best Actor, and the show picked up four additional nods in the technical categories, including costume design and lighting design. Netflix has yet to announce whether The First Shadow will morph into a touring production once the Broadway run wraps up—or if the show has been filmed for a streaming premiere. Simon says that, as with all things Stranger Things, fan enthusiasm will ultimately determine its afterlife. “We look at reviews. We look at guest satisfaction. Whether people are buying tickets is another metric we use to gauge whether it’s resonating," Simon said. Those metrics apply to platforms beyond Broadway. Stranger Things is a key player in Netflix’s live event portfolio, with an immersive experience and pop-up stores that are currently touring the world, as well as a presence at the Netflix Bites dining experience. And, of course, there are consumer products galore, a number of which are on sale at The First Shadow gift shop. All of this is in service of making Stranger Things an omnipresent media brand. So far, viewers are following the series wherever it goes. “We’ve seen no dip in fan passion for Stranger Things between the seasons of the show,” Simon notes. The cast and creators of Stranger Things' final season. The next shadow To date, that passion has been buttressed by the promise that more Stranger Things episodes are inching their way towards the Netflix homepage. Once the series finale airs, though, future in-canon stories are certain to be made and consumed in other media. The streamer has announced one spin-off show, the animated anthology Tales From 85— which will screen first-look footage at June's Annecy International Animation Film Festival—with others rumored to be in the works. Beyond that, the show's partnership with Dungeons & Dragons is still going strong, Penguin Random House has a junior novelization of Season 1 set for July, and the soon-to-open Netflix Houses in Dallas and King of Prussia are certain to prominently feature Stranger Things imagery and merch. Trefry says that a feature film is another obvious extension for the Stranger Things universe. And having survived the live theater gauntlet, she's a firm believer that the story ultimately matters more than the medium when it comes to the continuing story of Hawkins. “You just have to get to the core of what makes it Stranger Things,” she emphasizes. The Duffers themselves have booked other Netflix projects, including new adaptations of Stephen King's The Talisman and the Japanese manga Death Note. But Simon expects them to continue to assist in curating the experiences, products, and narratives that define the next stage of the brand's mythology. "We look at all of that as true extensions of storytelling," Simon says. "And there's no better way of sticking the landing and creating inspiring items for our fans than by working closely with the creators." Not for nothing, but Broadway could become a new forum for other creator-centric Netflix series. Pitched on a Shonda Rhimes-approved Bridgerton musical or a Peter Morgan-scripted expansion of The Crown, Simon sounds all-in on both ideas. "When I look at the complexity of what the creative team was able to do with The First Shadow, it makes me excited to think about how those titles you mentioned could come to life in a unique way," he muses. "Theater continues to be on our list, for sure."

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How Netflix Is Expanding Stranger Things' Shadow

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