Vecna’s New Look In Stranger Things Season 5 Explained By Star

Warning: Mild SPOILERS lie ahead for Stranger Things season 5, volume 1!Jamie Campbell Bower’s Vecna is back and with a slightly new look in Stranger Things season 5, which has a very unique explanation behind it. After having initially been defeated by the various Hawkins protagonists in season 4, Bower’s Upside Down-controlling antagonist returns properly in season 5 volume 1’s finale, emerging from the military-controlled gate and attacking everyone around him with a horde of Demogorgons in tow.

Much like his appearance in season 4, Vecna’s prosthetic suit has been designed by five-time Emmy winner Barrie Gower and his team, albeit this time more corroded than before. He’s also much more dangerous than before, with the Duffer brothers having previously teased that his Stranger Things season 5 return would be like “Freddy Krueger on steroids” as his powers become just as impactful on the real world as the Upside Down.

Now, in an interview with ScreenRant‘s Ash Crossan to discuss the new season, Bower discussed Vecna’s new design in Stranger Things season 5. The star acknowledged that, thanks to the season 4 ending in which he “suffered a fall and was almost burnt alive” by some of the protagonists in the series, Vecna’s new look is “a byproduct” of his healing and evolution in the wake of this attack:

The reason he looks the way he does now is partly a byproduct of that process — and also just having spent more time not in the human world, as it were. He’s become more resentful and just hideous within that process, and the part of the world in which he was thrown into.

Reflecting on his initial reaction to Vecna’s new design, Bower expressed that he loves the look, calling it “such a joy” to work with Gower and his team in “making sure that everything that we needed was there.” This included “adding extra layers” and other details onto the suit, so that “when I was stepping onto set, that presence was felt.“

Though initially shown in his Vecna form for the majority of the season, Stranger Things season 4 volume 1’s ending memorably gave a proper reveal of Henry Creel’s transformation into the malevolent entity. Having been sent to the Upside Down by Eleven, and exposed to the dimension’s toxic atmosphere and unique lightning storms, the first of Dr. Brenner’s experimental subjects became closer in appearance to that of his Dungeons & Dragons counterpart.

Much to Bower’s point, the state he was left in after season 4’s ending is a major factor for Vecna’s new design in Stranger Things season 5. More than just taking gunfire, his physical form in the Upside Down was set completely ablaze by Nancy, which would not only help alter anyone’s appearance, but thanks to the dimension’s unique chemical atmosphere made for a very different recovery process for the character.

Based on Bower’s comments, it also sounds as though any chance there may have once been to try and turn Vecna toward a more benevolent mentality is now completely gone heading into Stranger Things season 5. Season 4 made it pretty clear he had a much more nihilistic view of the world, but with other prior seasons seeing its villains getting a semblance of redemption as they disconnected from the Mind Flayer and other Upside Down forces, there could have once been an opportunity. Now, Vecna’s new design looks to be emblematic of an even darker turn than before.

Be sure to dive into some of our other Stranger Things season 5 coverage with:

Release Date

2016 – 2025-00-00

Network

Netflix

Showrunner

Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer

Directors

Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer, Andrew Stanton, Frank Darabont, Nimród Antal, Uta Briesewitz

Writers

Kate Trefry, Jessie Nickson-Lopez, Jessica Mecklenburg, Alison Tatlock