Jamie Campbell Bower in a hat and glasses as Mr. Whatsit, bends over to talk to someone off-camera in Stranger Things.Image via Netflix
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Greer Riddell
Published Feb 17, 2026, 7:14 PM EST
Greer Riddell (pronounced Gre-er Rid-dell) is a very tired Londoner who is fuelled by tea and rarely looks up from her laptop. Before joining Collider in March 2024, Greer spent over a decade making social, content and video for UK media brands and freelance clients including the BBC, Bauer Media and Glastonbury Festivals. Greer is first and foremost the Social Media Coordinator at Collider, looking after Social Video and TikTok but is an occasional Features Writer.
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Earlier this month, Collider exclusively revealed that Netflix is set to release a professionally filmed version of Stranger Things: The First Shadow, the Broadway prequel to the sci-fi series. On the surface, this appears to be an exciting continuation of the franchise and an opportunity for global audiences to finally experience the production previously limited to fans with access to either London or New York. However, streaming the play now that Stranger Things has ended is a risky move. Rather than strengthening the franchise’s legacy and keeping Stranger Things fans subscribed, the streaming release of The First Shadow may expose further narrative gaps that will feel impossible to ignore.
'Stranger Things' Season 5 Leaves Out Key Details From ‘The First Shadow’
Stranger Things Season 5 leaves major elements of villain Henry Creel’s (Jamie Campbell Bower) past underexplored, but the whole point of The First Shadow is how Henry became Vecna, and the play provides detailed lore and backstory for the character. When the play debuted in 2023, its exclusivity to the UK and the U.S. created a clear divide. Out-of-context clips and spoilers circulated online, so fans without access were able to familiarize themselves with the story, and many expected the series finale to meaningfully incorporate its details. Instead, Season 5 omitted and, in some cases, contradicted key elements established on stage.
Most notably, the play confirms that Henry attended high school with Joyce (Winona Ryder), Hopper (David Harbour), and the other adult characters. This shared history carries significant narrative weight, yet the series never explicitly explores it. In one of Max’s (Sadie Sink) memory sequences, Joyce appears at school, but Henry’s relationship with her and the others is left unaddressed. By abducting Will (Noah Schnapp) in Season 1, Vecna purposely targets his contemporaries, but the in-show narrative never clarifies why or whether they realized that he was Henry from high school.
At the same time, the series suggests a different origin for Henry’s powers — touching the glowing rock in the cave. In The First Shadow, he ventures into the cave, meets a scientist with a mysterious device, and is transported to the Upside Down for twelve hours. Season 5 also excludes Patty Newby (Gabrielle Nevaeh), the adopted sister of Bob (Sean Astin), Joyce’s boyfriend in Season 2. In the stage play, she represents a version of Henry’s life that might have existed without the corrupting influence of the Mind Flayer, and she becomes his anchor to humanity. With The First Shadow soon to be available on Netflix, these inconsistencies will no longer be confined to dedicated theater-goers or internet discussions — they will become part of the mainstream conversation.
The Fan Reaction To ‘Stranger Things’ Season 5 Was Already Disappointing
A young Joyce Maldonado (Byers) standing by a locker as a couple passes in Stranger Things Season 5Image via Netflix
Stranger Things Season 5 premiered to enormous anticipation. After nearly a decade of intricate worldbuilding, escalating stakes, and carefully constructed mythology, expectations for the finale were high. Many of the fans who were most active on social media had grown up alongside the series, so the characters' endings felt personal. As a result, the reaction to Volume 2, and the finale in particular, was negative. While some viewers praised the scale and ambition of the final chapter, many were left underwhelmed by unresolved threads, uneven pacing, and character contradictions. For a show that had built a reputation on narrative precision and in-world design, the ending felt surprisingly disjointed.
Almost immediately after the series finale aired, viral fan theories, such as ConformityGate, gained traction. Rather than simply acknowledging that the Duffer Brothers faltered under the enormous pressure, the theory suggested that the ending depicts a fabricated reality, and the “real” final episode was yet to be released. Leaving Henry Creel’s origin and motivations until the end of the season and then contradicting the canonical stage play became central to viewers’ frustration. Now Netflix’s decision to release a filmed version of the play risks intensifying fans' scrutiny, with subscribers seeing just how much narrative potential was left unexplored by the Duffers in Season 5.
Related
The ‘Stranger Things’ Broadway Prequel Is Coming to Netflix [Exclusive]
You won't have to brave the Great White Way to get to the Upside Down.
Posts By Rob LondonReleasing ‘Stranger Things: The First Shadow’ Now Is a Risky Move for Netflix
A scene from Stranger Things: The First Shadow on BroadwayImage via Manuel Harlan
So why is Netflix choosing to release the Stranger Things play now, especially after the vocal backlash to Season 5? It was likely always in the cards, but delaying the streaming release avoided spoiling the final season and protected live ticket sales. It also makes business sense to sustain subscriber interest through related projects now that the main series is over, including the animated Stranger Things: Tales from ’85. However, in the wake of the series finale’s poor reception, streaming The First Shadow gives global audiences access to a story that highlights what the flagship show left out.
CL Report: Subscribe and never miss what matters
Dive into the world of entertainment with Collider, delivering the latest news, reviews, and exclusive updates from movies, TV, and pop culture Subscribe By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.Netflix and the Duffer Brothers are unlikely to be harmed by any reinvigorated social media buzz, and The First Shadow will almost certainly attract strong viewership due to the story’s previous exclusivity and the controversy surrounding it. Rather than simply expanding the universe, however, the play's Netflix debut will likely reignite debate over the narrative cohesion of Season 5 and underscore how, after nearly a decade, the Duffers struggled to align their finale with the mythology they had constructed. Making Stranger Things: The First Shadow globally accessible should be an exciting moment for fans of the franchise. Instead, its arrival on Netflix risks reopening old wounds.
Stranger Things
Like TV-14 Drama Mystery Horror Science Fiction Release Date 2016 - 2025-00-00 Network Netflix Showrunner Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer Directors Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer, Andrew Stanton, Frank Darabont, Nimród Antal, Uta Briesewitz Writers Kate Trefry, Jessie Nickson-Lopez, Jessica Mecklenburg, Alison Tatlock
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