'Stranger Things' play wins Tony Awards, setting stage for TV series finale

With bloody body contortions, booming blasts and brooding high school angst, "Stranger Things: The First Shadow,” based on the 12-time Emmy-winning Netflix science fiction series "Stranger Things," took home a number of Tony Awards on Sunday.

It won for best scenic design, lighting design and sound design for a play along with a special award for its illusions and technical effects.

Miriam Buether, the scenic designer for Stranger Things: The First Shadow reflected on the journey of creating frightening moments on stage.

"We love scaring people," she said backstage at the ceremony hosted by Wicked film star Cynthia Erivo.

The play, directed by Stephen Daldry, was nominated for five Tony Awards in total, including best performance by an actor in a leading role in a play for Louis McCartney for his performance as Henry Creel, the younger version of the main antagonist of the “Stranger Things” series who is later called Vecna.

Stranger Things: First Shadow is one of the expansions of the “Stranger Things” universe created by brothers Matt and Ross Duffer, who announced the launch of Upside Down Pictures in 2022, marking an overall deal with Netflix that will also include a live-action Stranger Things spin-off series.

The series has spawned video games, cosplay, in-person immersive experiences and merchandise licencing deals, including the January 2025 deal with the company behind the popular Squishmallow plush toys.

Last month, at Netflix’s globally livestreamed fan event called “Tudum Live,” it was announced that the “Stranger Things” TV series would have a fifth and final season split into three parts, with part one on November 26, 2025, part two on December 25, 2025 and the series finale on December 31, 2025.

The final season of "Stranger Things" was delayed by dual Hollywood strikes in 2023.

"Stranger Things," the story of a group of adolescent friends in rural Indiana in the 1980s who battle creatures from an alternate dimension called the "Upside Down," premiered on Netflix in 2016 and became a smash hit created by the Duffer brothers for the streaming platform.

The play, produced by the Duffer brothers, takes audiences back in time to 1959, two decades before the period explored in the TV show.

Jim Hopper and Joyce Maldonado - adult characters in the TV show - are seen as high school classmates with normal teen concerns about cars and classes until a new student named Henry arrives. Henry Creel is an odd and troubled boy that holds the future of the small town of Hawkins, Indiana in his hands.

The New York cast includes Harlem actor Burke Swanson as Jim Hopper, Shameless actor Alison Jaye as Joyce Maldonado and McCartney as Henry Creel, who reprised his role after being in the London production.

The monster-filled play debuted in London in 2023 at the Phoenix Theatre and made its New York Broadway debut in March 2025 at the Marquis Theatre.