Commentary: ‘Stranger Things: The First Shadow’ Treats Canon Appropriately

Canon is a controversial subject. When it comes to stories, there are two camps: those who believe canon should always be adhered to, and those who believe canon should be thrown out when needed. In reality, the best course of action probably resides somewhere in the middle. It should be followed as closely as possible, but shouldn’t be held up as the ultimate truth when developing new stories within the universe. Stranger Things: The First Shadow, a theatrical spin-off of the hit Netflix show, takes a pretty good route in regards to canon. It more or less honors the facts of the series, while bending them and having fun with its characters at the same time.

The play follows Henry Creel (Louis McCartney), the young boy who will eventually grow into One and then Vecna. It details what happened to Henry when he first moved to Hawkins and went to high school with younger versions of the characters from the show. As a freshman, Henry befriends a girl named Patty (Ella Karuna Williams), even though he was socially awkward and had trouble making friends. Influenced by his powers and their connection to the Upside Down, Henry began killing small animals around the town. The social and supernatural stress eventually became too much for Henry, resulting in the terrible night when he killed his mother and sister as depicted in the show.

Creating a spin-off story like this is very difficult. There is plenty of leeway within the backstory given to Henry in the show for the play to be plausible within canon. However, the writers obviously wanted to maximize the play’s payoff. They used younger versions of the main characters to accomplish this, giving them an odd familiarity with the series’ main villain. Henry’s age was also played with to pull this off. While his age was never explicitly stated in the show, he definitely looked younger than a freshman in high school, which is how old he was in the play. Canon extremists might take issue with these details, but sometimes bending the hard facts or looking the other way is necessary in order to tell a great spin-off that expands the universe.

Stranger Things: The First Shadow is now on Broadway.