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After 4 eventful seasons with the Stranger Things gang, it's hard to believe that there was anything the Netflix writers had to cut out. And yet, as with any TV project, that was the case, as much as it is always the case that some of the writers will want to revisit what got lost. Take, for instance, Stranger Things: The First Shadow, the live theater experience that brings the lore of Hawkins, IN to the stage, and that was apparently built from scraps that ended up on the season 4 writers' room cutting floor. 

In particular, reveals Stranger Things show writer and First Shadow scribe Kate Trefry, those scraps belonged to the still-barely-seen backstory of Henry Creel, the boy who would eventually become primary series antagonist Vecna.

"We kind of had a backstory in mind for him,” Trefry told Polygon in an interview published April 4. “But it wasn’t until we started working on the play [that] I got the chance to explore his backstory and look at the goalposts that were set in stone by season 4, and find this labyrinthine way through to all of them."

So what does exploring the backstory of Henry Creel look like? For Trefry, it meant delving into a question asked of so many of fiction's greatest villains (and come to think of it, the real ones too): is this person boron evil, or were they turned veil by their circumstances? Apparently, that was a huge discussion for the Stranger Things writers as they were introducing Vecna to the show, and it was one that carried into Trefry's script.

"Is there something inside [Henry]?" Trefry asked in her investigation of the character. "He has this relationship with the Mind Flayer — how does that develop, how is that symbiotic or parasitic? Who’s the puppet and who’s the puppet master? [...] It’s kind of up for debate throughout the play, because I think that’s the most fun version of trying to sort out a bad guy."

Along with fleshing out ideas she already had in the season 4 writer's room, Trefry credits actor Louis McCartney with helping her discover the soul of the Boy Who Would Be King of the Upside-Down. McCartney played the role of Henry Creel in the West End debut of The First Shadow, and will be reprising it when the play comes to Broadway on April 22.

But Trefry's experience writing The First Shadow didn't end at looking back into the Hawkings of the 1950s, or for that matter, into the history of the Stranger Things writers' room. Trefry is, after all, one of the writers for the hotly anticipated Stranger Things season 5, and as she admitted to Polygon, everything she dug up on Henry for Broadway came with her back to Netflix.

"What happens," she tells her interviewer crypticall, "What’s revealed about Henry in season 5, is a direct result of the work I was doing on the play."

Get your tickets now, folks.

Stranger Things season 5 is expected to stream on Netflix later this year.

As we all collectively wait for Stranger Things season 5, here's the keys to getting ready:

• How to watch Stranger Things in chronological or release order
• Getting to know the Stranger Things season 5 cast
• There needs to be more death in Stranger Things, says co-star Gaten Matarazzo
• The Stranger Things time jump between season 4 and 5 has been confirmed by Netflix - and it raises some serious questions
• "They land the plane," David Harbour describes the Stranger Things finale, which he calls its "best episode"