Who Is Patty Newby In Stranger Things?

The end of "Stranger Things" is here, and it's been a long, long, long time coming. Over the years, it's become clear that "Stranger Things" might be overstaying its welcome. Season 4 was a great music video and helped catapult at least one moderate '80s hit to new levels of success, but it's hard to say if it provided a whole lot more.

Now, in its final season, "Stranger Things" is doing what every big Hollywood franchise eventually does — cross-media storytelling. As much as Netflix and the Duffer Brothers have talked about expanding the world of "Stranger Things" through spin-offs, the show simply hasn't really become the cinematic universe that Netflix perhaps wants. This is by far the most popular and successful show Netflix has made, but it is not their Marvel or their "Star Wars."

That is changing with the fifth and final season of "Stranger Things," as it is relying a lot on audiences being familiar with a separate piece of media — one that the majority of fans have no access to — "Stranger Things: The First Shadow," the stage play that premiered in London back in 2023 and is currently playing in New York. The play has informed a lot of what the fifth season is doing, as it is a canon story that explains the origin of Vecna, how he got his powers, and more. The play already offered lucky viewers plenty of answers that are only now being explored in the TV show, making it essential viewing for "Stranger Things" fans.

But the most important piece of information introduced in "The First Shadow" is a person, one who is the key to turning Vecna good again and saving Henry's soul. That person is Patty Newby, the most important "Stranger Things" character you've never heard of.

We know Bob Newby (Sean Astin), but his sister is technically never mentioned in the show — only briefly shown in a prequel comic book. In "Stranger Things: The First Shadow," however, she's an integral part of the story. Patty is Bob's adopted sister and a classic Hawkins outsider. She's nerdy, smarter than her classmates, and lacking in friends. It isn't until a new kid moves into town that Patty finds someone like-minded. That kid? Henry Creel, aka Vecna (played by Jamie Campbell Bower in the TV show). The two bond over their loneliness, nerdy interests, and isolation.

Soon enough, they fall in love and start dating, at the same time as they both star in a high school play directed by Joyce (Winona Ryder in the show). Of course, tragedy strikes, and Henry becomes the Vecna we love to hate. As for Patty? She leaves Hawkins behind, never to return. Still, she knows Henry Creel is not the monstrous serial killer people make him out to be, because she knows he's being manipulated and controlled by the Mind Flayer.

This is hugely important. "The First Shadow" recontextualizes everything we thought we knew about the Upside Down, Vecna, and the Mind Flayer. Still, the main characters of "Stranger Things" (for the most part) don't know this. They consider Vecna to be the ultimate villain of the story, and aren't even considering the possibility that he can be redeemed. Patty knows better. She knows Henry is a good kid at heart. She might be the only person capable of turning Vecna back into Henry and breaking the Mind Flayer's influence on him.