Louis McCartney of Stranger Things: The First Shadow on His Anti-Hero's Journey

Age: 21

Hometown: Helen's Bay, Northern Ireland

Current role: Louis McCartney plays a young Henry Creel in Stranger Things: The First Shadow, the theatrical prequel to the Netflix series, at the Marquis Theatre.

Credits: After a handful of screen roles—including the crime drama Hope Street and the coming-of-age feature Silent Roar, as well as a blink-and-miss-it performance as a dragon casualty in Game of Thrones—McCartney made his professional stage debut in Stranger Things: The First Shadow in the West End. He picked up The Stage 2024 Debut Award for Best Performer in a Play and the Critics’ Circle Award for Most Promising Newcomer.

Regarding Henry
Live theater brings out the animal in McCartney. “I couldn’t for the life of me explain to you how the hell I do it—it just comes out,” he said. As Henry Creel, the tormented teenage protagonist of Stranger Things: The First Shadow, McCartney hurls himself into a performance of such violent extremes that, at times, it feels like an onstage self-immolation. Vocally, physically, emotionally, psychologically, he puts himself through the wringer—contorting, convulsing, emitting tears and snot and screams that chill the air at the Marquis Theatre. McCartney’s real voice is adult and assured—in considerable contrast to Henry’s nasal, strained tones—carrying a gentle Northern Irish accent. It’s a relief to find out the role doesn’t linger with him off stage. “When I'm outside of work, I'm just Louis and I'm just 21 and I'm just trying to have a good time and just trying to eat right and sleep. I don't really think about the play.” He paused. “I mean, I do have horrible nightmares.”

The Call to Adventure
Louis (pronounced “Lou-ee”) McCartney grew up in the small coastal village of Helen's Bay in Northern Ireland, spending about as much time wandering the mist-shrouded woods as bashing the buttons of his Nintendo DS. From his holistic therapist mother, he inherited expansive notions about the universe and his own life force; through his screenwriter father, he got an early glimpse of the sweat and tears involved in a life of storytelling—a “vicious desire for the truth,” as he put it. Not long after Louis began secondary school, his father suggested he give up fencing in favor of acting lessons. Louis balked. “I told him, ‘No way, José. I was adamant—I wasn’t going to be an actor. But he just kept pushing.” Eventually, McCartney gave in. There was no lightbulb moment where he realized he was born to perform. But something about it got under his skin. “It sort of just kept going and I kept loving it. It felt right and it felt like it meant something. It was outside of grades and friendship cliques and worrying about getting a girlfriend.” 

Dragons and Demons
At just 16, McCartney landed a role—the sole teenager in a cast of performers aged 18 and over—in a local production of Jesus Christ Superstar. He portrayed the non-speaking part of Judas’ conscience—a Jewish demon, or shedim. “It was a really cool character. Very Henry Creel.” Being an actor from Belfast, of course McCartney served his time on Game of Thrones. “Yeah, it's a joke in Ireland: If you're from Ireland, you're in Game of Thrones.” It was his first major audition. “They led me into a room and I said goodbye to my dad. And then, 10 seconds later, he heard me screaming for my life. He was about to break the door down and grab me and run out of there. He thought I'd been kidnapped or something. But I was just pretending to be burnt alive by a dragon.” McCartney landed his first major role in Hope Street, a crime drama series filmed in Dungannon, Ireland, followed by the feature film Silent Roar, in which he played a surfer who loses his father and then loses his mind in the grip of grief. “I guess there's a throughline for me playing crazy characters."

Approach to the Inmost Cave
The open casting call for the “Untitled Netflix Play” offered few clues to prospective auditioners. It didn’t really sound like a Bridgerton spinoff, but McCartney had no real way of knowing he was trying out for a theatrical incartnation of a certain blockbuster sci-fi horror series. After sending in several self-tapes, McCartney was invited to a group audition at Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London. About 20 or 30 other kids had also been called in. That session earned him a spot in the workshops. “You didn't even have the part yet. You were still auditioning—but you were in a place where you could start to have more of a creative license.” That was where McCartney found out what the project was: a Stranger Things prequel centered on the origin story of Henry Creel, the character who turns into the fearsome humanoid creature Vecna in season four of the show. “That just made me want it more.” In the sixth grueling week of workshops, McCartney got the phone call saying he had bagged the role.

Having Nightmares While Living the Dream
Stranger Things: The First Shadow began London performances in November 2023. Fans of the Netflix show anticipating an effects-heavy theatrical spectacular that captures the tone and style of the show certainly got that. They also got, thanks to McCartney’s obsessively committed performance, something deeper: a tragedy in which the character’s turn to the dark side feels both horrific and heart-wrenching. The performance marked not only McCartney’s professional stage debut, but his first time inside a West End theater. The phantasmagoria of the show—and the stress of that period in his life—did leave a mark on McCartney's subconscious. One night, he began waking at regular intervals, sitting bolt upright (“like in The Exorcist”) and pointing at some invisible presence inching ever closer to his terrified girlfriend. “She ended up having to go sleep downstairs at like 6:00 AM.” Fortunately, the anxieties eased up. 

Upside Down in New York
Now on Broadway, a year-and-a-half later, McCartney is still working out new things about his character. He loves toying with the audience's sympathies. He also tends to think of the character in terms of “energies” to tap into—energies that change and evolve from performance to performance. “You can go 70 percent monster, 30 percent human. You can go 100 percent human. It just depends on what I'm feeling or what I'm getting on the night. I like to keep the audience on their toes." And he's so excited to be in New York he's practically levitating. “I literally can’t believe that I’m here. I'm just ready for the fans to see us and for us to give this story to them—because it's more exciting this year. It’s better, it's faster, it's stronger.” He’s talking about the show but also, clearly, talking about whatever unknowable force is powering his performance. “I want to do it better.”