Louis McCartney Shares 15 Behind-The-Scenes Facts About “Stranger Things: The First Shadow,” And More

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First, what was the audition process like for Henry Creel? Since it’s not just a play but something in the Stranger Things world, was the process pretty secretive?

It was basically like a roller coaster. So I got the self-tape through, and of course, it was extremely hidden and confidential. All I knew about it was “Untitled Netflix play directed by Stephen Daldry.” I was auditioning for this character called George, who was Henry’s cover name at the time, and they had me doing one of the more intense scenes, like “Scary Patty.” And one of the other scenes we have called “Confessional,” where it’s cute and it’s fun, and it’s basically showing both sides of Henry.

I did a couple of rounds of self-tapes in my home, just back and forth. My dad just did it, he and I, and we didn’t hear anything for six months, and we basically forgot about it. Then I got word back that they wanted me to have a callback. But this time, it was for “Conjureman,” who is this character, wildly different from Henry. And I went there, did that, and it was fine. That was with our Associate Director, Audrey [Sheffield], as well, who I later worked with and became great friends with, which was lovely, that you can look back on those memories and how crazy that was. 

Then a few weeks went by, probably about a month, and I didn’t hear anything. And then all of a sudden, these rounds of Henry recalls just started happening, and they were all in London, and I was busy moving out of Dublin. I just finished university and finishing Season 3 of Hope Street, and it was the craziest, most hectic, most exciting time, because you’re auditioning for Stranger Things, but also you have so much on your plate. It was honestly about a good three, four months of recalls, and you know, you auditioned to get into the workshop process, which was where you’d be given the script, and it would be locked away overnight.

It was the hardest, most interesting thing, to not be able to work with the material at home and be free and feeling when you came in the next day. I think that’s what the goal was, obviously confidentiality, but also it geared us all toward this very fluid human response to the material. No one was coming in with choices they’d made last night. Everyone would begin with, What the fuck is gonna happen now? We had no idea. No idea how they were going to put it on stage. No idea who was cast, one by one in those workshops, we all got told we got the part, but you weren’t allowed to tell anyone else. 

I remember the day I got called in and told I got the part, and that was, like, super secret. Justin sitting me down and saying, “Hey, I hear that you’ve joined the team,” and how cool that was with all that work we’ve put in. By then, you’ve put so much work in, you’re so excited to do the play. Then from there, it’s just been the same exact roller coaster ride, up and down, and doing it again, same process. And just been crazy recreating it here in New York. It’s been a lot of fun.