Stranger Things Season 5 officially connects the show to the Broadway play, but how? Details revealed

Stranger Things 5 is stitching its final season together with Broadway level lore, and the Duffer Brothers are not being subtle about it. When they first sent Stranger Things: The First Shadow to London’s West End and later to Broadway, they hinted that it would quietly feed into the show’s last chapter. Turns out they meant loudly. The new season’s biggest thread pulls right through Max Mayfield’s fate.

Volume 1 of the season reveals that Max is alive, but her consciousness is stuck inside Vecna’s mind while her real body lies in a coma in Hawkins. The place she hides in this mental maze is a cave that Vecna refuses to approach. It is the same cave introduced in The First Shadow, the one young Henry Creel explored back when he lived in Nevada.

Speaking about the connection between the show and the play, the Duffer Brothers spoke to Variety about how the idea of this came to be. Matt Duffer told the outlet,

When we were working on the play with Kate Trefry, we had Henry’s backstory worked out. There was always a balance that we had to find in terms of how much we were going to put in the play. [The director] Stephen [Daldry] and [the produce] Sonia [Friedman] were always pushing for more and we were pushing back and saying, “Well, we have to wait to reveal that in the show.” You’ll see, especially as you reach the final episode, there’s more overlap with the play.

Ross Duffer then added,

"And, like, Max finds that “Oklahoma” poster, which people who haven’t seen the play are maybe like, “Why is Henry in ‘Oklahoma’?” But I think it’s nice for us to start to tie those two together."

So does that mean fans have to tune into the play to understand the series better? Absolutely not. Matt Duffer assured that this is simply an Easter egg, and fans can choose to watch it if they want.

More details about the Stranger Things Broadway show

Stranger Things: The First Shadow arrived as a full scale theatrical prequel that dives deep into the origins of Henry Creel long before the Netflix series picks up his story.

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The story follows Henry Creel, whose childhood exposure to stolen government technology sends him and a scientist into Dimension X, where he first encounters a shadowy entity later revealed as the Mind Flayer. The play documents hislife journey and everything that led to him becoming Vecna. In the end, Henry meets Eleven in the Rainbow Room as Vecna’s presence begins to emerge.

Stranger Things: The First Shadow received acclaim from fans, receiving four Tony awards and three Drama Desk Awards among others. As of now, it's still playing in New York, with tickets available on the play's official website.

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