[sinister music playing]

[TITLE CARD] Meet the Original Cast of Stranger Things: FIRST SHADOW

[tone beeping, static flickering] 

Justin Martin (co-director): Stranger Things: The First Shadow, it’s about a group of young people who are outcasts. There is a bit of horror, there is a love story … 

Patrick Vail (as Dr. Brenner): This is a great story. A story about a family trying to get a second chance, and everything going in a direction that no one could have foreseen. And it’s an adventure, it’s horror, it’s science fiction … 

Kate Trefry (writer): Working with the cast has been such a singular joy. Everybody brought their own version to the table. They all, like, just naturally embody, like, the spirit of the character, like, before all the drama and brokenness. It’s been so fun. 

Isabella Pappas (as Joyce Maldonado): Joyce Maldonado, she is … obsessively, like, passionate character. And it’s fun to get to step into that skin every night, and kind of see how much energy I can muster up in my body to try and, like, fill the space of kind of what that character was on-screen. 

Oscar Lloyd (as Jim Hopper Jr.) Jim Hopper is kind of an angsty, angry teenager with a lot of frustration, and a desire to get out of Hawkins. 

Christopher Buckley (as Bob Newby): Bob is, as a person, he’s very inquisitive. He’s very determined as well. So, getting to play someone as iconic and beloved as Bob Newby is, is a real joy, it’s a real privilege. I should come to it, you know, with fresh eyes and a new stake, and try and present different aspects of Bob that we haven’t seen in that show. 

Louis McCartney (as Henry Creel): To play young Henry Creel, he does a spectacular job of playing this psychotic evil sort of lurking deep inside. But that’s the TV show. And what we’re trying to explore here is this sort of compassionate Henry Creel who feels things, which is quite surprising. It’s a blast. I absolutely love it. 

Ella Karuna Williams (as Patty Newby): I play Patty Newby. It’s really fun, ’cause we got to create her from scratch, essentially. And her nerdiness, her sassiness, how open she is, how closed she is. Coming more to terms with who she is after being an outcast and put down in many ways. 

Patrick Vail (as Dr. Brenner): In some ways, it’s almost like stepping into, you know, a revival of something. But it’s also this extraordinary experience of working in concert. You feel a responsibility, but you also feel a real sense of joy to get to play in a really frickin' great sandbox.

[CLIP] Louis McCartney (as Henry Creel): Crazy? [horn honks] Maybe … 

Justin Martin (Co-director): It’s like a total theater experience. Video, lighting, sound, all coming together with illusion. And the action and the actors.

Louis McCartney (as Henry Creel): Yeah. For me, the most rewarding thing was getting a hang of the illusions, because we’re breaking new ground here. Because the illusions are insane, and they take an insane amount of work. But we’ve done it, and we’ve checked that box. 

Ella Karuna Williams (as Patty Newby): It was really cool to move to the stage, and to get to work with set, and illusions, and certain stunts. Just getting to finally bring that to life as well was really, really exciting. 

Justin Martin (co-director): I love when people get the jump scare, then they laugh at the fact they jump. 

Kate Trefry (writer): I think we’re gonna be shocked and surprised by how scary it is. It’s been so fun to watch people walk out of the end of the second act, and they all have this, like, crazy look on their face. Like getting off a roller coaster. 

Christopher Buckley (as Bob Newby) I think there was a little girl in the audience. She went, “Oh my God!” And then she just started screaming, going, “Aah! Aah!” And I was like, there’s the audience. That’s who we’re doing this show for.