Stranger Issues’ large Vecna reveals are all hidden in a present you may’t stream

In season 5 of Stranger Issues, the social gathering is laser centered on discovering and defeating Vecna aka One aka Henry Creel (Jamie Campbell Bower). The Duffer Brothers spent season 4 slowly revealing the origins of the terrifying villain whose darkish affect has been felt on Hawkins for many years, however there’s nonetheless extra to his story. To see all of it, you must journey to New York or London.

Premiering in London in 2023 earlier than opening on Broadway in 2025, Stranger Issues: The First Shadow is a prequel that takes place in 1959 and focuses on a younger Henry Creel (Louis McCartney), who has simply moved to Hawkins along with his household. The creators of the present didn’t wish to make The First Shadow required viewing for followers of the Netflix sequence, however there are some scenes in season 5 that tackle much more which means for those who’ve seen the play.

[Ed. note: Major spoilers ahead for Stranger Things season 5 and Stranger Things: The First Shadow]

In “Sorcerer,” the fourth episode of Stranger Issues season 5, each Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink) and Holly Wheeler (Nell Fisher) are trapped in Henry’s reminiscences. Max has been caught reliving the bloodbath on the Hawkins Nationwide Lab and Vecna’s psychic assault on her. However one of many different key moments that Max visits whereas making an attempt to flee occurs in 1959 at Hawkins Excessive Faculty, the place a younger Joyce is selling a one-night manufacturing of the musical Oklahoma! starring Henry Creel.

That Hawkins Excessive manufacturing is vital to the plot of Stranger Issues: The First Shadow. Joyce is secretly placing on the tragic fantasy romance present Darkish of the Moon, and Creel isn’t truly enjoying Curly however the witch boy John. In basic play inside a play trend, the plot of Darkish of the Moon displays the conflicts Henry goes by as he struggles along with his newfound psychic powers whereas additionally looking for acceptance in Hawkins, the place he falls for his co-star Patty Newby.

The First Shadow paints Henry in a far kinder mild than the Netflix sequence. He’s not a sociopath, however a boy stricken by the darkish affect of the Thoughts Flayer, which supplies him immense energy and pushes him to harm folks round him. The present focuses on a battle for Henry’s soul waged between Patty, who desires Henry to make use of his powers to assist folks, and Dr. Martin Brenner aka Papa, who desires to make use of Henry in his navy experiments.

However the largest factor Max learns from touring by Henry’s reminiscences in “Sorcerer” is that there’s one thing he’s afraid of – a cave within the desert – which she makes use of as a refuge. That’s additionally a reference to The First Shadow. Henry wasn’t born psychic. He gained his powers at age 8 after he was uncovered to the Thoughts Flayer’s affect when exploring a cave close to his childhood residence in Nevada.

That cave housed expertise from an experiment being performed in Nevada that was meant to duplicate The Philadelphia Experiment, a World Struggle II check that despatched a battleship to a different dimension. When Holly explores Henry’s reminiscences of his childhood residence, she finds and makes use of the spyglass he was carrying on this fateful outing. Henry dropped it within the cave, which is how Brenner was capable of finding him and enlist him in his experiments.

Henry’s blood sort and character modified after this encounter, as he started wrestling with the Thoughts Flayer’s affect, ultimately succumbing to its darkness and murdering his entire household. One other key change to the present’s mythology is that the designation of One isn’t simply because Henry was Brenner’s first check topic. He’s truly the progenitor of your entire twisted experiment – all the different youngsters together with Eleven obtained their powers after receiving transfusions of Henry’s blood.

The truth that Henry received’t go into the cave might simply be as a result of his childhood worry nonetheless has energy over him. However it additionally hints at a extra sophisticated relationship between him and the Thoughts Flayer.

Henry didn’t have his first encounter with the Thoughts Flayer when Eleven despatched him to the Upside Down in 1979 – they have been already nicely acquainted. And whereas Henry has drawn on the facility of the hive thoughts to make use of Demogorgons as troopers, his objectives may not be completely aligned with the puppet grasp. Understanding that dynamic could possibly be key to lastly defeating each enemies and saving Hawkins and the world. Hopefully the present does a great job of explaining this as a substitute of counting on viewers having traveled to New York and paid for expensive theater tickets to get the entire story.

The primary 4 episodes of Stranger Issues season 5 can be found to stream on Netflix now, with three extra episodes dropping on Christmas and the finale airing on New Yr’s Eve.