Note: contains spoilers for Stranger Things season 5 episodes 1-4
Stranger Things fans everywhere collectively held their chests and gasped at the end of season five, volume one. And the ones who didn't were too busy fist-pumping the air in satisfaction because what do you mean (SPOILER ALERT) Will powered up?
Now, as the fandom climbs out of the dopamine-filled haze it's been living under since the season's release, there are a few other questions that are beginning to ruminate, most namely Henry Creel's, aka Vecna's, aversion to the cave.
In episode four, 'Sorcerer', we discovered our almost-fallen Scooby-kid Max had been trapped in Vecna's mindscape this entire time.
Max also revealed to Holly Wheeler (Nell Fisher) that she had been evading Henry by escaping into his memories.
She ran into a system of caves and learned it was the only place in the mind-scape that she could truly be safe from him.
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"He was scared," she told Holly. "More than scared, he was terrified. There's something about this cave. This memory. He won't come in."
What happened to make him so fearful? The play Stranger Things: The First Shadow goes some way to explaining that.
In the play, which first debuted in December 2023 at London's Phoenix Theatre, it is explained that while venturing into a Nevada cave one day, young Henry Creel got accidentally caught up in one of Dr Brenner's (Matthew Modine) experiments to reopen the gate to Dimension X.
Dimension X is believed to be different from the Upside Down and is where The Shadow, thought to be The Mind Flayer, exists.
The dimension was discovered during World War II when, while trying to make their military ship invisible, the US government mistakenly sent one to Dimension X.
All on board died except for Dr Brenner's father, who returned with an altered blood type. Dr Brenner became obsessed with the mission and later successfully opened the gate, unaware that Henry was inside.
Henry was missing for 12 hours, during which he was sent to Dimension X and there he met The Mind Flayer. No one really knows what happened to him there but when Henry returned he too was altered. Not only gaining powers but also his personality was said to be different.
His parents, initially concerned for him, became fearful of him and uprooted their family to Hawkins hoping for a reset. Well, we all know how that went.
While the play doesn't go into detail about what Henry experienced in Dimension X we know enough of what the Mind Flayer is capable of thanks to Will's horrific and invasive experience.
However the petrified look on Henry's face suggests that his unique brand of dehumanising torture was different and had much graver consequences.
Unlike Will, Henry lost his battle with the Mind Flayer during The First Shadow as the audience witnesses it slowly take hold of him.
However in season five the mind-scape seems to be retaining a small piece of that humanity judging by the presence of the cave and the trip down Hawkins-High memory lane in 1959, when he attended school with teen Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder), Hopper (David Harbour), Bob Newby (Sean Astin), the Wheelers and the Harringtons.
All of which beg some questions: who's really in control in present-day Hawkins, the Mind Flayer or Vecna? Why was Will able to resist the Mind Flayer where Henry was not? More importantly, now that Will has tapped into the hive mind, how much more susceptible could he be to the Mind Flayer's influence?
So many questions and so much time to begin theorising in the long wait until the release of part two.
During an interview with Variety, showrunners Matt and Ross Duffer have already confirmed that there will be more "overlap" between the play and the final season so fans who have seen the stage production can look forward to those Easter eggs. Not to worry if you haven't, the Duffers have also expressed that viewers don't need to have seen the prequel to enjoy the ride.
Stranger Things seasons 5 part 1 is now streaming on Netflix. Part 2 is set for Christmas Day and part 3 is set for New Year's Eve (slightly later in the UK).
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TV writer, Digital Spy Janet completed her Masters degree in Magazine Journalism in 2013 and has continued to grow professionally within the industry ever since. For six years she honed her analytical reviewing skills at the Good Housekeeping institute eventually becoming Acting Head of Food testing. She also freelanced in the field of film and TV journalism from 2013-2020, when she interviewed A-List stars such as Samuel L Jackson, Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson. In 2021 she joined Digital Spy as TV writer where she gets to delve into more of what she loves, watching copious amounts of telly all in the name of work. Since taking on the role she has conducted red carpet interviews with the cast of Bridgerton, covered the BAFTAs and been interviewed by BBC Radio and London Live. In her spare time she also moonlights as a published author, the book Gothic Angel.
