Stranger Things: The First Shadow Will Open on Broadway in 2025

Stranger Things: The First Shadow, a theatrical prequel to the Netflix science fiction-horror series, will open at Broadway's Marquis Theatre in 2025. Performances begin March 28 with an official opening set for April 22.

Set 24 years before the events of the first season, the show features younger versions of Stranger Things characters James “Jim” Hopper Jr., Joyce Maldonado and Bob Newby (played by David Harbour, Winona Ryder and Sean Astin in the series).

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.

Stranger Things: The First Shadow is written by Kate Trefry, a staff writer on the Netflix show, from an original story by Trefrey, show creators Matt and Ross Duffer and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child playwright Jack Thorne. It is directed by Tony Award-winning director Stephen Daldry with co-director Justin Martin. The show had its world premiere in the West End, opening at the Phoenix Theatre on November 17, 2023, where it continues to run. The production won the Olivier Award for Best Entertainment or Comedy Play.

The show features Olivier-winning set design by Miriam Buether, costume design by Brigitte Reiffenstuel, lighting design by Jon Clark, sound design by Paul Arditti, illusions design and visual effects by Jamie Harrison and Chris Fisher, video design and visual effects by 59 Productions, original music and arrangements by D.J. Walde, choreography by Coral Messam, movement direction by Lynne Page and wigs, hair and makeup design by Campbell Young Associates. Props supervision is by Mary Halliday, dialect coaching is by William Conacher and fight direction is by Kev McCurdy.

Created by the Duffer Brothers, Stranger Things debuted on Netflix in 2016, becoming one of the streamer’s most popular television series. The series has garnered 57 Primetime Emmy Award nominations with 12 wins. The fifth and final season, starring Ryder and Harbour with series regulars Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Noah Schnapp, Sadie Sink, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Joe Keery and Maya Hawke, is currently in production and expected to premiere in 2025.

Casting for the Broadway production will be announced at a later date. Watch the official trailer below.