The Stranger Things Play’s First Shadow May Hold the Key to Defeating Vecna

The following message contains spoilers for “Stranger Things: The First Shadow”.

Since he was introduced, Vecna ​​(Jamie Campbell Bower) has been a fearsome villain in “Stranger Things,” a powerful psychic serial killer who murdered his mother and sister — and that was before he transformed into a horrific, skinless monster from another dimension.

Vecna ​​is a big bad (even if it poses a problem for the series), and he only gets better once you learn his full story, which is not told in the Netflix show. Indeed, Vecna, aka Henry Creel’s origin story, is explored in the play “Stranger Things: The First Shadow,” which premiered in London in 2023. The play shows how Henry and his family moved to Hawkinsand how the Mind Flayer’s influence caused Henry to commit a horrific series of animal murders in the city before killing people. Oh, and between the murders, Henry was also in a musical with the parents of each main character from “Stranger Things.”

That’s correct. Henry spent time with everyone from Joyce Byers, née Maldonado (Winona Ryder), Ted Wheeler (Joe Chrest) and even Bob Newby (Sean Astin). This last point is important because Bob’s sister (yes, he has a sister) might hold the key to saving Vecna ​​before it’s all over. Patty Newby is introduced in “The First Shadow,” which was written by “Stranger Things” screenwriter and co-executive producer Kate Trefry, as Bob’s adopted sister. Like Bob, Patty is a nerd, and she is the only one in Hawkins who is not immediately hostile toward newcomer Henry Creel. In fact, she quickly becomes friends with him and even dates him for a bit before tragedy separates them.

Patty could be the key to saving Henry.

You see, while everyone around him (especially his parents) treated Henry Creel like a monster, Patty saw the good in him. She treated him like a person and was even convinced that his powers could be used for good.

Of course, it ended in tragedy when the Mind Flayer all but took over Henry and bodies started falling around Hawkins. Yet for a time, Henry was free from this dark influence and could feel like a normal kid for once, with friends and even a girl who liked him.

In the play, Patty survives and leaves Hawkins. While we don’t know where she is or if she’s still alive in the ’80s, she could hold the key to defeating the Mind Flayer. If Patty were to return to Hawkins and meet Henry, she might be the only one capable of freeing him from the Mind Flayer’s influence. If this happens, the Hawkins gang would win yet another very powerful psychic allyone with knowledge and a connection to the Mind Flayer that could destroy him once and for all.

However, introducing a character who only appeared in a stage play that most “Stranger Things” fans don’t have access to and giving him a central role in the final season may be unwise. Still, given how important she is to Henry’s story and how much of the play is already baked into the new episodes, it’s not entirely impossible that Patty could move to the TV show and help save the day.