‘Stranger Things’ next iteration is taking fans back to the beginning ahead of the final season

It’s time to book your plane tickets because Stranger Things is headed to London.

The enormously popular hit TV series is set to explore the origin of Hawkin’s relationship with the Upside Down in Stranger Things: The First Shadow, a stage play taking place 27 years before the events of the Netflix series. Set in 1959, The First Shadow will not only introduce fans to a young Jim Hopper and a young Joyce Byers, nee Maldonado, not to mention Henry Creel, but it will also leave behind Easter eggs the show’s creators say “might hold the key to what comes next…”

In a post shared on the show’s social media account, fans are given a vague but insightful look at a minute-long trailer for the stage play. The trailer, advertising a montage of clips from earlier seasons set to the show’s theme song, offers a sense of familiarity while leaving much to the imagination. What makes it truly Insightful is the choice to display the montage on a static-y analog television set with eight buttons along the side and a cluster of spiders spewing out the crack in the middle of the screen.

Those who remember the cracked grandfather clock in the attic of Henry Creel’s house will recall a similar method of advertising used ahead of the show’s fourth season. When all was said and done, that clock (or better yet, the four chimes it gave off) represented the four victims Vecna needed to claim in order to enter our dimension physically. We all know how that turned out.

The Duffer Brothers teased the play back in March, promising not just the return of familiar faces such as Hopper and Henry Creel but also new ones, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

“We are beyond excited about Stranger Things: The First Shadow. Collaborating with the brilliant Stephen Daldry has been nothing short of inspiring, and Kate Trefry has written a play that is at turns surprising, scary and heartfelt. You will meet endearing new characters, as well as very familiar ones, on a journey into the past that sets the groundwork for the future of Stranger Things. We’re dying to tell you more about the story but won’t — it’s more fun to discover it for yourself. Can’t wait to see you nerds in London.”

If we’re lucky, we’ll be left with more answers than questions this time. Opening night for Stranger Things: The First Shadow is scheduled to premiere at the Phoenix Theatre in London on Nov. 17, 2023, and continue until Aug. 25, 2024. Tickets are available via the stage play’s website.

As for when we can expect to see season five of Stranger Things — although it was previously believed the final season would begin filming this year, the writer’s strike threw a wrench in that deadline, leaving its premiere date in the Upside Down.