Netflix’s ‘Stranger Things’ Officially Returns With Surprise New Release
Just because Stranger Things is over doesn’t mean it’s gone, does it? Netflix isn’t saying goodbye to Hawkins just yet, and if anything, the franchise seems to be entering a new era, with the streamer continuing to build on one of its biggest ever originals beyond the events of Part 5. There are plenty of stories left to tell, and one of them is coming out early next year.
This time, the spotlight is falling on one of the franchise’s most important—and tragic—characters. Netflix and Dark Horse Books have officially announced Stranger Things: The First Shadow, an 80-page graphic novel adaptation of the award-winning stage play of the same name. The book is available to pre-order now and will be released on January 19, 2027. Written by Kate Trefry, from an original story by Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer, Jack Thorne and Trefry, The First Shadow takes audiences back to Hawkins in 1959. The synopsis reads:
In 1959 Hawkins, Indiana, the Creel family seeks a fresh start, especially their teenage son Henry, who is eager to escape his troubled past. Initially, things seem to go well — he finds friendship and joins the school play. But when a wave of shocking crimes strikes the town, Henry is forced to confront a terrifying possibility: Something inside him may be connected to the horrors unfolding around him. As this thrilling mystery races forward, shadows of the past are unleashed, relationships are tested, and the town of Hawkins must band together to face unspeakable darkness.
The production has also become one of the most acclaimed entries in the wider Stranger Things universe. It won Olivier Awards for Best Entertainment and Best Set Design, while its Broadway production became the most Tony Award-winning play of 2025, taking home four awards, including Best Scenic Design, Best Lighting Design, Best Sound Design, and a Special Tony Award for Illusions and Technical Effects.
Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Personality Quiz
Which Sci-Fi Hero Are You Most Like?
Paul Atreides · Captain Kirk · Princess Leia · Ellen Ripley · Max Rockatansky
Five iconic heroes. Five completely different ways of facing an impossible universe. One of them shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of refusing to back down. Eight questions will tell you which one.
Paul Atreides
Capt. Kirk
Princess Leia
Ellen Ripley
Max Rockatansky
FIND YOUR HERO →
01
How do you lead when the stakes couldn’t be higher?
The way you lead under pressure is the most honest thing about you.
AI absorb everything — every variable, every pattern — and move only when I know the path forward.
BI read the room, make the call, and own the consequences. Hesitation costs more than mistakes.
CI rally people. A cause needs a voice, and I refuse to let fear be louder than conviction.
DI assess the threat, establish what needs doing, and get it done without waiting for permission.
EI don’t lead. I act. Others can follow or not — I’m already moving.
NEXT QUESTION →
02
What is your greatest strength in a crisis?
The quality that keeps you alive when everything else fails.
APrescience — the ability to see further ahead than anyone else and plan accordingly.
BImprovisation — I’m at my best when the plan falls apart and I have to invent a new one.
CConviction — I know what I’m fighting for, and that certainty doesn’t waver under fire.
DComposure — I stay functional when everyone around me is falling apart. Panic is a luxury.
EEndurance — I outlast things. I take the hit and keep moving long after others have stopped.
NEXT QUESTION →
03
What is the thing you’d sacrifice everything else for?
Your deepest motivation is your truest compass.
AThe survival and dignity of my people — even if I have to become something frightening to ensure it.
BThe safety of my crew — every single one of them. No one gets left behind.
CFreedom — for my people, for every world still crushed under the weight of an empire.
DThe truth — what actually happened, what’s actually out there, whether anyone believes me or not.
EThe one person — or the one memory — that still makes any of this worth surviving for.
NEXT QUESTION →
04
How do you relate to the people around you?
Who you are to others under pressure is who you really are.
AWith intensity and distance — I care deeply, but the weight I carry makes closeness complicated.
BWith warmth and irreverence — I take the mission seriously, not myself.
CWith directness and trust — I say what I mean, and I expect the people I work with to rise to it.
DWith professional care but clear limits — I’ll protect you, but I won’t pretend we’re family.
EWith wariness that slowly becomes loyalty — I don’t trust easily, but when I do, it holds.
NEXT QUESTION →
05
You’re facing a threat that no one else believes is real. What do you do?
How you respond when you’re the only one who sees it defines everything.
APrepare in silence. If they won’t listen, I’ll be ready when they finally have to.
BKeep pushing until someone listens — and if no one does, handle it myself.
CBuild the case, find the allies, and make the threat impossible to ignore.
DDocument everything. The truth matters even if no one believes it yet.
EStop trying to convince anyone. Survive it. That’s the only argument that counts.
NEXT QUESTION →
06
What has your heroism cost you personally?
Every hero pays. The question is what — and whether they’d pay it again.
AMy innocence — I’ve seen what I’m capable of, and I can’t unsee it.
BPeople I loved — the command chair has a view, but it’s a lonely one.
CA normal life — I gave up everything ordinary the moment I chose the cause.
DMy sense of safety — I know exactly what’s out there now, and I can’t pretend otherwise.
EAlmost everything — and I’m still not sure what I’m carrying it all for. But I keep going.
NEXT QUESTION →
07
How do you feel about the rules of the world you’re in?
Every hero has a relationship with the system. What’s yours?
AI understand them deeply — and I know exactly which ones must be broken, and why.
BI respect the spirit of them and bend the letter when the situation demands it.
CThe system is the problem. I’m not here to work within it — I’m here to dismantle it.
DI follow protocol until protocol stops being useful. Then I make the call myself.
EThe rules collapsed a long time ago. What’s left is instinct, and mine are reliable.
NEXT QUESTION →
08
When everything is on the line, what keeps you going?
The answer is the most honest thing about you.
ADestiny — or something that feels so much like it that the difference no longer matters.
BThe people on my ship — their faces, their trust, the fact that they’re counting on me.
CThe belief that what we’re fighting for is worth every sacrifice, including this one.
DSheer refusal to let it win — whatever it is. I don’t stop. That’s just who I am.
EI’m not sure anymore. But the road is still there, and I’m still on it.
REVEAL MY HERO →
Your Hero Has Been Identified
Your Sci-Fi Hero Is…
Your answers point to the iconic sci-fi hero who shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of facing the impossible.
Arrakis · Dune
Paul Atreides
You carry a weight most people would crumble under — the knowledge of what you’re capable of, and the burden of what you might have to become.
You see further ahead than others and you plan accordingly, even when the vision frightens you.
You are driven by loyalty to your people and a sense of destiny you didn’t ask for but can’t escape.
Paul Atreides is not simply a hero — he is someone who understands the cost of power and chooses to bear it anyway.
That gravity, that willingness to carry what others won’t, is exactly you.
USS Enterprise · Star Trek
Captain Kirk
You lead with instinct, warmth, and an absolute refusal to accept a no-win scenario — because you’ve always believed there’s a third option nobody else has thought of yet.
You take the mission seriously without ever taking yourself too seriously.
Your crew would follow you anywhere, not because you demand it, but because you’ve earned it.
Kirk’s genius isn’t tactical — it’s human. He reads people, bends rules with purpose, and wills outcomes into existence through sheer conviction.
That combination of warmth, audacity, and relentless optimism is unmistakably yours.
The Rebellion · Star Wars
Princess Leia
You are the kind of person who holds the line when everyone else is losing faith — not because you’re fearless, but because giving up simply isn’t something you’re capable of.
You lead through conviction. Your voice carries because your belief is unshakeable.
You gave up everything ordinary the moment you chose the cause, and you’ve never looked back.
Leia is not a supporting character in her own story — she is the moral centre of the entire rebellion.
That same fierce, principled, unbreakable core is what defines you.
The Nostromo · Alien
Ellen Ripley
You are not reckless, not grandiose, and not particularly interested in being anyone’s hero — you just refuse to stop when it matters.
You see threats clearly, you document the truth even when no one listens, and when the time comes you handle it yourself.
Ripley’s heroism is earned, not performed. She doesn’t have a speech — she has a flamethrower and a plan.
You share her composure under the worst possible pressure, and her refusal to pretend the monster isn’t there.
When it counts, you don’t flinch. That’s everything.
The Wasteland · Mad Max
Max Rockatansky
You have been through fire that would break most people — and what came out the other side is something the world underestimates at its peril.
You don’t ask for help, don’t need validation, and don’t wait for anyone to tell you the rules no longer apply.
Your loyalty, when it finally arrives, is absolute — but it’s earned in silence and tested in action, not in words.
Max is not a nihilist. He is someone who lost everything and found, against his will, that he still has something worth protecting.
That bruised, stubborn, ultimately human core is exactly yours.
↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ
Who’s Involved in ‘The First Shadow’?
The original stage production starsLouis McCartney(Stranger Things: The First Shadow) as Henry Creel,Ella Karuna Williams(The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power) as Patty Newby,Patrick Vaill(The Gilded Age) as Dr. Brenner,Rosie Benton(The Good Wife) as Virginia Creel,Alex Breaux(Joe Pickett) as Victor Creel,Alison Jaye(Orange Is the New Black) as Joyce Maldonado,Burke Swanson(FBI: Most Wanted) as James Hopper Jr. andJuan Carlos(The Outsidersstage production) as Bob Newby.
The stage production is directed by Stephen Daldry and co-directed by Justin Martin, with a script by Kate Trefry based on an original story developed by the Duffer Brothers, Jack Thorne and Trefry.
The graphic novel adaptation of Stranger Things: The First Shadow arrives in bookstores and comic shops on January 19, 2027.
Release Date
2016 – 2025-00-00
Network
Netflix
Directors
Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer, Andrew Stanton, Frank Darabont, Nimród Antal, Uta Briesewitz
Writers
Kate Trefry, Jessie Nickson-Lopez, Jessica Mecklenburg, Alison Tatlock
تم النشر: 2026-07-24 17:22:00
مصدر: collider.com
