‘Stranger Things’ Writer Reveals Why the Duffer Brothers Made Major Changes to Play Script Ahead of Season 5

• Matt and Ross Duffer asked playwright Kate Trefry to tone down the script for Stranger Things: The First Shadow
• “Whatever we want it to be, it’s gonna be like 80% less,” Trefry said in Behind the Curtain: Stranger Things: The First Shadow
• The playwright explained that the Duffer Brothers “want to preserve the reveal” for Stranger Things season 5

Hawkins is full of secrets!

A Netflix documentary about the making of the Broadway-bound Stranger Things play has revealed that Matt and Ross Duffer asked playwright Kate Trefry — also a writer for the hit television series — to tone down the stage show’s script to save a big reveal for the upcoming season 5.

In a tense, heavily-redacted conversation featured in Behind the Curtain: Stranger Things: The First Shadow, which hit the streamer on April 15, Trefry paused rehearsals at 3 Mills Studio to share an important message from the Stranger Things co-creators. 

“Okay, can I just stop you right now?” she told director Stephen Daldry in a scene. “I just got off the phone with the [Duffer Brothers] and…”

The three-time Tony winner cut her off to finish her sentence, “It’s all changed?”

“No,” Trefry corrected him. “It’s just gonna be… Whatever we want it to be, it’s gonna be like 80% less. We’re gonna be able to do like 80% less. We’re gonna be able to tell very little of this story of [redacted].”

Trefry got specific, but the Netflix documentary bleeped out the specifics. “We’re going to be able to say that something happened, but we’re really not going to be able to say that much,” she said.

When Daldry questioned the change, the playwright explained that the Duffer Brothers “want to preserve the reveal for season 5.”

The conversation continued with more redacted comments. Each time, a pop-up on the screen blocked the mouth of the person speaking with a black bar that read “spoiler” in intense red lettering. 

Trefry went on to say in a voiceover, “I’m very aware of the clock, but also we got to get it right. It doesn’t bother me to, like, lay down the law.”

The next scene showed the Stranger Things expert having to set things straight once again after co-director Justin Martin was talking about a character’s ability to “make fantasies happen.”

“I hear you, but think you’re treading on thin mythological ice,” she said. 

Trefry added in a confessional, “I know all the rules. I know them like I was born with them. Sometimes we have to, like, sit down and do a little school, Stranger Things school.”

She was then shown telling the group: “This is sci-fi, guys. This is science-fiction, not fantasy.”

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Earlier in the documentary, Trefry — who has written for Stranger Things since season 2 — discussed the challenges of writing the script for the play compared to working in the writers’ room for the show.

“We have a joke in the writers’ room that, like, every new scene in a Stranger Thing script starts with [noise] or like, ‘zoom,’ like car tires on the road,” the writer said, adding that the scenes “ends with shared looks between people.”

“You literally can’t do either of those things on stage,” Trefry continued. “There’s no close-up, there’s no montage and there’s no hard cuts.”

Stranger Things: The First Shadow premiered at the Phoenix Theater on London’s West End in December 2023, where it is currently playing. The Broadway production is set to open on April 22 at Marquis Theater in New York City after its successful premiere across the pond.

The prequel story was conceived by Stranger Things creators, directors and executive producers Duffer Brothers, as well as Thorne and Trefry. Daldry directs Trefry’s script with Martin.

Taking place in the fictional town of Hawkins, Ind., the play is set in 1959, long before Mike Wheeler, Eleven and the young stars at the center of the 80s-set TV series were born. The story focuses on high school-aged Jim Hopper, Joyce Maldonado and Bob Newby — the characters played on screen by David Harbour, Winona Ryder and Sean Astin — and dives into the origin story of Henry Creel (a.k.a. Stranger Things‘ Vecna).

Netflix and Sonia Friedman Productions produce the show, alongside associate producer 21 Laps Entertainment. The creative team includes Miriam Buether (set design), Brigitte Reiffenstuel (costume design), Jon Clark (lighting design), Paul Arditti (sound design) and D.J. Walde (original music composition, orchestration, arrangements and supervision).  

The cast of 34 is led by Burke Swanson, Alison Jaye and Juan Carlos, who step into the roles of Jim, Joyce and Bob, respectively. Other principal roles include Rosie Benton (as Virginia Creel), Alex Breaux (as Dr. Brenner), Andrew Hovelson (as Principal Newby), Emmy nominee T.R. Knight (as Victor Creel), Gabrielle Nevaeh (as Patty Newby) and Louis McCartney (as Henry Creel). 

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Of these names, Breaux is set to appear in Stranger Things season 5, while McCartney is reprising his role from the West End.

Completing the cast are Janie Brookshire, Kelsey Anne Brown, Malcolm Callender, Ta’Rea Campbell, Juan Carlos, Robert T. Cunningham, Ayana Cymone, Tom D’Agustino, Victor de Paula Rocha, Ian Dolley, Dora Dolphin, Nya Garner, Logan Gould, Shea Grant, Rebecca Hurd, Ted Koch, Timothy Lawrence , Jamie Martin Mann, Patrick Scott McDermott, Stephen Wattrus, Maya West, Eric Wiegand and Graham Winton.

Behind the Curtain: Stranger Things: The First Shadow is currently streaming on Netflix. Tickets to Stranger Things: The First Shadow are now on sale.