Recent showings of the Stranger Things: The First Shadow stageplay reportedly made changes to better align with Netflix's Season 5. The First Shadow came to London's West End in December 2023 and later to Broadway in April 2023, serving as a prequel to the Netflix series and recounting Henry Creel's backstory before he became Vecna. The series' creators, the Duffer Brothers, confirmed that you "absolutely do not have to have seen the play to understand" Season 5. But The First Shadow serves as a perfect prequel to Season 5, which, in a way, spoiled reveals such as why Vecna was scared to enter the cave.
A post on X from Stranger Things Updates revealed that certain attendees have changes to "some scenes and the script" in recent showings of The First Shadow to better align with the events of Season 5.
Elaborating, Stranger Things Updates added that "all the changes were related to the cave and Nevada." Those events were, of course, featured as flashbacks inside Henry Creel's mind in Season 5, revealing how he violently killed the Russian scientist and was sent to the Abyss from a mystery artifact.
The First Shadow also retconned Creel's age so that he went missing in the Abyss at 11 years old, not as an eight-year-old Boy Scout as before.
Furthermore, the series' Henry Creel actor Jamie Campbell Bower reprised his role in the final scene of The First Shadow again in a February showing, having done so previously in December to coincide with Season 5's release.
The First Shadow's recent updates come after Collider exclusively confirmed that the Broadway show would be recorded for release on Netflix. The official recording reportedly took place from Tuesday, February 10, to Saturday, February 14, during which time public performances were cancelled.
Why Stranger Things' Play Rewrite Makes Perfect Sense
Stranger Things: The First Shadow's recent updates, while seemingly minor, only help to cement the stage play as a true piece of canon. Ensuring the play aligns with the events of Season 5 will be vital to avoiding confusion ahead of its Netflix release, which could conceivably come later this year.
Jamie Campbell Bower's cameo in The First Shadow made sense as a promotional effort for Season 5 in December. However, his reprisal just recently, around the reported recording of the Stranger Things play, has led many to speculate that he will appear in the Netflix recording too.
This isn't the first time The First Shadow has been tampered with due to the flagship Netflix series. As part of Netflix's Behind the Curtain: Stranger Things: The First Shadow documentary (via People), co-director Stephen Dalry cryptically confirmed that they would be able to do "80% less" of a particular storyline as the Duffer Brothers want to preserve the reveal for Season 5."
One would assume those changes were primarily to the events in the cave that led to Henry Creel getting his powers in the Abyss. Perhaps some of those original plans have been re-added to The First Shadow after these changes, now that Season 5 and its biggest spoilers are out in the open.
