It’s been three years since we last saw Vecna and some of them strange things fans can’t stop talking about the villain’s slimmer appearance.
Part 1 of the show’s fifth and final season aired on Wednesday, November 26 with Jamie Campbell Bower returning as Vecna. The 37-year-old actor also reprized his role as Henry (aka the human version of Vecna) who came across as friendly despite having ulterior motives with a secret plan to kidnap the children in Hawkins.
Although the story was more focused on Vecna’s revenge, the biggest conversation about Vecna was related to her appearance.
“I wonder, why does Vecna look so different? The ‘branches’ on her shoulder? Slimmer waist?” read a post via X while another fan wrote: “Vecna comes out with a 14 inch waist.”
Bower scoffed at the change between seasons suggesting in his X response that Vecna found time to “Zumba” in between terrorizing the residents of Hawkins. Since joining the hit Netflix series in 2022, Bower has opened up about bringing the big bad to life.
“First I got two sets of sides (scripts), one from Primal Fear and one from Hellraiser,” he said. variety in May 2022. “I had no idea what this character was. They didn’t send me any material from the show.”
Watching the series allowed Bower develop your version of the mysterious character.
“I went crazy for, like, two days. In my apartment, I put a picture of Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) in the middle, and then all the other characters around him, and then I made a mind map of Claire Danes from Homeland who I thought that person was,” he continued. “I took a step back after two days, and I said, ‘I feel kind of good.’ So I took a picture and then I printed out all the pictures and put them in this little folder, and then I got a phone call saying that Matt and Ross (Duffer) wanted to meet.”
Bower then showed the creators the vision he had for the role. “They said, ‘This is literally perfect. Everything you’ve got here is perfect. Your references are perfect. The inspiration is perfect. Do you mind if we show you some more visual references that we have and what we’re thinking, and tell you a little bit more about the character?'” he recalled. “I think, at that point, they knew I wasn’t completely crazy.”
At the time, Bower revealed that it took about seven and a half hours transform into the monster through prostheses. After shooting for 12 hours, the actor was in no rush to remove all his makeup.
“I got into character, playing the character, so I’m sitting in the makeup chair very still, not really talking to anyone. Music is a huge help for me. I find it’s a very visceral experience,” he told Variety. “I had a few records that I was constantly spinning on repeat as I’d been building the character that I’d had anyway, so there was kind of a subconscious thing going on.”
Bower he remembered asking for 30 more minutes to himself before filming began, adding, “It was pitch black. I sat in (a dark room) between takes and I was going to do it. It was really interesting. Halfway through, I started to get really scared of Vecna.”
After the second installment of season 4 aired in July 2022, Bower broke down the “very complicated process” of going to the bathroom in her Vecna costume.
“The top half is attached (to my body), and then the bottom half is like these pants, and there’s a flap,” she told TV Line. “Poor Duncan (Jarman, the head of the make-up effects department) would have to take me out first of all, and then there’s a zipper in the pants. Then (someone) would have to stay outside the toilet.”
Bower continued, “I can’t really touch anything. I had these fingernails stuck as well as my hands. So I was coming back from the bathroom with, like, one nail that came off and I said to (makeup effects artist) Mike Mekash, ‘Mike, can you fix my finger? I’m so sorry!””.
strange things returns with volume 2 on December 25th and the finale is out on December 31st on Netflix.