2025 Tony Award Nominations Celebrate STRANGER THINGS

We’re used to celebrating genre and nerdy properties when the Emmy and Oscar award nominations come rolling through. But this year, we’re celebrating nerdiness on a whole new horizon, a whole new stage one might say. The 2025 Tony Awards nominations are in and, incredibly, there’s a whole lot of Stranger Things love in them. That’s partially because Stranger Things is now on Broadway with the Stranger Things play, Stranger Things: The First Shadow. And it’s also partially because Sadie Sink is awesome. Here’s the nerdy love for Stranger Things and beyond that we spotted in the 2025 Tony Awards nominations, and below that, we’ve also shared the full list of this year’s nominees. Enjoy!

Stranger Things Takes Center Stage at the 2025 Tony Nominations

We’ve always known that Stranger Things cast a talented group of (no longer so young) kids. Even though the show is still not over yet, they’ve been off doing some cool stuff. And this year, that cool stuff includes being nominated for a Tony Award. Stranger Things‘ Sadie Sink, who plays fan favorite, Max, is nominated for Best Leading Actress in a Play for her work in John Proctor Is the Villain. John Proctor Is the Villain picked up three nominations in total.

Additionally, a nomination for Best Leading Actor in a Play also goes to a Stranger Things actor, but to someone new to the franchise. Louis McCartney, who plays Henry Creel in Stranger Things: The First Shadow (the Stranger Things) play, has picked up a 2025 Tony nomination for his work in the performance.

But that’s not all. Stranger Things: The First Shadow picked up a total of five nominations in the 2025 Tony Award announcements. In addition to Best Leading Actor in a Play, the Stranger Things play is nominated in the categories of Best Scenic Design in a Play, Best Costume Design in a Play, Best Lighting Design in a Play, and Best Sound Design of a Play.

We have to say, we GREATLY enjoyed Stranger Things: The First Shadow. We were surprised ourselves, but it does feel deserving of a Tony award. And it gets us very excited for Stranger Things 5 to come along…

The Full List of 2025 Tony Award Nominees

Although they are not as outright nerdy as Stranger Things, some other performances we love got nominated for 2025 Tony Awards. These include Death Becomes Her, Oh Mary!, and the The Picture of Dorian Gray. You can check out the full list of 2025 Tony Award nominees below.

Best Musical
Buena Vista Social Club
Dead Outlaw
Death Becomes Her
Maybe Happy Ending
Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical

Best Play
English
The Hills of California
John Proctor Is the Villain
Oh, Mary!
Purpose

Best Revival of a Musical
Floyd Collins
Gypsy
Pirates! The Penzance Musical
Sunset Blvd.

Best Revival of a Play
Eureka Day
Romeo + Juliet
Thornton Wilder’s Our Town
Yellow Face

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical
Darren Criss — Maybe Happy Ending
Andrew Durand — Dead Outlaw
Tom Francis — Sunset Blvd.
Jonathan Groff — Just In Time
James Monroe Iglehart — A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical
Jeremy Jordan — Floyd Collins

Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical
Megan Hilty — Death Becomes Her
Audra McDonald — Gypsy
Jasmine Amy Rogers — BOOP! The Musical
Nicole Scherzinger — Sunset Blvd.
Jennifer Simard — Death Becomes Her

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play
George Clooney — Good Night, and Good Luck
Cole Escola — Oh, Mary!
Jon Michael Hill — Purpose
Daniel Dae Kim — Yellow Face
Harry Lennix, Purpose
Louis McCartney, Stranger Things: The First Shadow

Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
Laura Donnelly — The Hills of California
Mia Farrow — The Roommate
LaTanya Richardson Jackson — Purpose
Sadie Sink — John Proctor Is the Villain
Sarah Snook — The Picture of Dorian Gray

Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical
Brooks Ashmanskas — SMASH
Jeb Brown — Dead Outlaw
Danny Burstein — Gypsy
Jak Malone — Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical
Taylor Trensch — Floyd Collins

Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical
Natalie Venetia Belcon — Buena Vista Social Club
Julia Knitel — Dead Outlaw
Gracie Lawrence — Just in Time
Justina Machado — Real Women Have Curves: The Musical
Joy Woods — Gypsy

Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play
Glenn Davis — Purpose
Gabriel Ebert — John Proctor is the Villain
Francis Jue — Yellow Face
Bob Odenkirk — Glengarry Glen Ross
Conrad Ricamora — Oh, Mary!

Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play
Tala Ashe — English
Jessica Hecht — Eureka Day
Marjan Neshat — English
Fina Strazza — John Proctor is the Villain
Kara Young — Purpose

Best Direction of a Musical
Saheem Ali, Buena Vista Social Club
Michael Arden, Maybe Happy Ending
David Cromer, Dead Outlaw
Christopher Gattelli, Death Becomes Her
Jamie Lloyd, Sunset Blvd.

Best Direction of a Play
Knud Adams — English
Sam Mendes — The Hills of California
Sam Pinkleton — Oh, Mary!
Danya Taymor — John Proctor is the Villain
Kip Williams — The Picture of Dorian Gray