'Stranger Things' Vecna Design Was Inspired by Embryonic Sacs and Charred Meat

When Stranger Things‘ big bad, Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower), returned in the series’ fifth and final season, he looked a little different than in previous iterations. At the end of season four, Nancy (Natalia Dyer), Steve (Joe Keery), and Robin (Maya Hawke) light him on fire with Molotov cocktails, and Nancy shoots him with a shotgun and blasts him out a window for good measure. As a result, he looks a little (okay, a lot) more haggard the next time we see him. Visual effects supervisor Betsy Paterson and makeup effects department head and prosthetic designer Barrie Gower told the Los Angeles Times that they drew inspiration for Vecna’s new drip from a multitude of sources, “from porcupines to animal embryonic sacks [sic]” and “barbecued meat.” “He was to be seen as a much bigger threat this time and made up of a twisted mass of large, pulsating vines,” Gower explained. “It’s like the essence and the power of the Upside Down is pumping through him.” Series co-creator Ross Duffer added, “We wanted to strip away even more of his humanity. If he was 50% human and 50% monster last year, this season we pushed him closer to 70% monster.” Thirty percent human is a pretty generous calculat