A guide to the 'Stranger Things' TV characters on stage in 'The First Shadow'

Fans can keep an eye out for these nods to the Netflix series, and newbies can use this guide to familiarize themselves with the residents of Hawkins, Indiana.

Ever wondered how Hawkins, Indiana, turned upside down? Stranger Things: The First Shadow, a new Broadway play set 30 years before the events of the hit Netflix show Stranger Things, tells the origin story of the supernatural goings-on in that fictional Midwest town. It all begins with a portal to another dimension (the Upside Down) that unleashes an array of dark forces into our world.

In telling this story, Stranger Things: The First Shadow introduces audiences to younger versions of both main and supporting characters first seen on screen. Fans will appreciate the clever tie-ins to the existing Stranger Things universe, but you can still understand the play's events even if you're a newbie (or should we say Newby).

If you do want a primer, however, check out the guide below for a who's who of Hawkins and how their screen and stage counterparts compare. Once you know who and what to look for, get tickets to watch the jaw-dropping world of Stranger Things come to life on Broadway as we wait for season 5 of the show to arrive.

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This article contains mild spoilers for Stranger Things and Stranger Things: The First Shadow.

Henry Creel

Before there was Vecna, there was Henry Creel. One of the most powerful beings in the Upside Down, as shown in season 4 of the TV series, was once a reserved young boy with psychokinetic powers he can't fully understand or control. Along with his parents, Virginia and Victor, and sister Alice, they move from Nevada to Hawkins in 1959 to escape a troubled past, which ends up repeating itself when the pets of Hawkins residents start mysteriously dying.

Louis McCartney plays Henry, earning a a 2025 Tony Award nomination and reprising his acclaimed performance from the play's London world premiere. Jamie Campbell Bower plays an older version of the character on screen.

Victor, Virginia, and Alice Creel

Stranger Things: The First Shadow centers on events alluded to as backstory in the TV show; namely, what became of the rest of Henry's family as he was on his way to becoming Vecna. Victor plays the biggest role in both iterations; on stage, we see the beginning of his descent into madness that is full-blown by the events of the TV show.

On Broadway, T. R. Knight plays Victor Creel, Rosie Benton is Virginia Creel, and Poppy Lovell and Azalea Wolfe alternate as Alice Creel. On screen, these characters are played by Robert Englund, Tyner Rushing, and Livi Burch.

Patty and Bob Newby

In the TV series, we meet Bob "the Brain" Newby when he's a manager at the local RadioShack and the boyfriend of divorced single mom Joyce Byers. In high school, he's the son of the school principal and runs his own radio show, which frequently gets disrupted by apparent power surges that seem to be connected to the animal deaths.

He uses his tech skills to build a "mobile radio location device" that helps him, Joyce, and Hopper investigate the mystery, similarly to how his computer hacking skills help save the Byers family in a crucial battle in Stranger Things season 2.

Patty Newby, on the other hand, doesn't appear in the TV show but is a main character on stage. The unloved, adoptive daughter of Principal Newby, she strikes up a relationship with fellow outsider Henry and becomes witness to his powers.

Gabrielle Nevaeh and Juan Carlos play Patty and Bob Newby on Broadway, and Sean Astin plays an adult Bob on the TV show.

Dr. Martin Brenner

Revealing too much about Dr. Brenner would massively spoil both the TV show and the Broadway show. Suffice it to say that Brenner is a research scientist involved in controversial studies — one of which begins with Henry. Brenner hopes to learn how to harness Henry's powers for future experiments, so he fuels the boy's violent impulses while acting as a fatherly protector for him.

Alex Breaux plays a younger Dr. Brenner on stage, while Matthew Modine plays his older self in the TV series.

James Hopper Jr.

Stranger Things fans know Jim Hopper as the outwardly gruff, inwardly soft police chief of Hawkins. Thirty years beforehand, he was the rebellious son of Hawkins' previous police chief, and he resents living under the weight of his dad's expectations.

In the stage play, Hopper gets involved in the dead-animal investigation in the hopes of claiming the reward money and escaping the army (which he eventually gets drafted into anyway), but he soon gets more deeply invested.

Burke Swanson plays Hopper on Broadway, and David Harbour plays him in the Netflix series.

Joyce Maldonado and Lonnie Byers

The action of the Stranger Things TV show kicks off when teenager Will Byers mysteriously disappears, and three of his friends — Mike, Lucas, and Dustin — become entangled in the otherworldly quest to save him. So, too, does his single mother, Joyce, a main character throughout the series.

Her teenage self also plays a key role in Stranger Things: The First Shadow. At rehearsals for the school play, which Joyce directs with passion, Henry and Patty grow close. Joyce also ends up involved in the investigation into the animal deaths, altering her relationships with Hopper (whom she secretly likes), Bob (who secretly likes her), and her crass boyfriend, Lonnie Byers.

As a nod to season 1 of the TV series, Bob installs Christmas lights in the mobile radio contraption he builds for the investigation. In the Netflix show, Joyce uses blinking Christmas lights to communicate with Will in the Upside Down.

Alison Jaye and Logan Gould play Joyce and Lonnie in Stranger Things: The First Shadow on Broadway. Winona Ryder plays an adult Joyce in the TV show, but Lonnie doesn't appear.

Karen Childress and Ted Wheeler

PDA-heavy high school sweethearts Karen Childress and Ted Wheeler are minor characters in Stranger Things: The First Shadow. On the TV show, both are clueless to the goings-on in Hawkins, similarly to how they fit stereotypes of the ditzy cheerleader and dumb athlete on stage.

Among the four boys at the center of the Stranger Things TV show, Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard) emerges as the group's leader, especially in season 1. It's fitting, then, that his parents were the popular kids in high school.

Dora Dolphin and Jamie Martin Mann play Karen and Ted on Broadway, while Cara Buono and Joe Chrest play their adult selves on TV.

Sue Anderson and Charles Sinclair

Sue Anderson plays a key role toward the beginning of The First Shadow, introducing Henry — and the audience — to the Hawkins High student body. Along the way, she rebuffs the affections of Charles "Chucky" Sinclair, whom she describes as "in love with the only girl in school who's too smart to date him." Little does she know they'll marry and have two children, Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) and Erica (Priah Ferguson), by the time the events of the TV show come along.

Ayana Cymone and Robert T. Cunningham play teenage Sue and Charles on Broadway. Karen Ceesay and Arnell Powell have recurring roles as the adult characters on screen.

Claudia Yount and Walter Henderson

Rounding out the future parents of the main Stranger Things quartet are Claudia Yount and Walter Henderson, whose son circa the '80s is Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo). Back in the '50s, Walter is portrayed as a high school creep and Claudia the "school freak."

Claudia has a cat named Prancer, who plays a key role in revealing the disturbing goings-on in Hawkins — similarly to how Dustin keeps a slug-like, ultimately consequential pet named Dart in season 2 of the TV show.

Shea Grant and Ian Dolley play Claudia and Walter in The First Shadow on Broadway, while Catherine Curtin plays Claudia in Stranger Things on Netflix.

Alan Munson

A fan-favorite character from season 4 of Stranger Things is Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn), a Dungeons & Dragons enthusiast who befriends Mike, Lucas, and Dustin and suffers the misdirected hatred of the rest of Hawkins. Eccentric and punk, Eddie takes after his father, Alan Munson, whose teenage self appears as a dramatic, goth theatre kid in Stranger Things: The First Shadow.

Eric Wiegand plays Alan on Broadway. The character does not appear in the TV series.

The demogorgons

It wouldn't be a Stranger Things show without the demogorgons, monsters from the Upside Down that resemble a cross between a human-sized lizard and a Venus flytrap. The main enemies of season 1, they also make a few surprise appearances (read: minor jump scares) in Stranger Things: The First Shadow. So does the Mind Flayer, the demogorgons' spider-like overlord represented on stage by an awe-inspiring piece of stagecraft.

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Photo credit: Stranger Things: The First Shadow on Broadway. (Photos by Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman)