WATCH: This Incredible Time-Lapse Clip Will Show You How Stranger Things’ Vecna Comes To Life

By Lara Kramer  •  16 Jun 2022 in Design

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Vecna, played by Jamie Campbell Bower, is the main antagonist of Season 4 of Stranger Things on Netflix.

The slimy, veiny, vine-covered roguish creature targets Max (Sadie Sink) in the series, and the Hawkins posse realises that the only way for her to circumvent being killed by his curse is to play her favourite song- Kate Bush’s ‘Running Up That Hill’.

Vecna takes on a humanlike form and can communicate with his victims, but he wasn’t generated using high-tech CGI- rather he is the product of carefully conjured extreme prosthetics.

Bower was transformed into the creepy being by the Stranger Things prosthetics team, headed by Barrie Gower.

Gower served as a Prosthetics Supervisor on Game of Thrones from Season 4 to Season 8. He is also revered for his stunning work on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, The Iron Lady, and The Witcher.

On June 15, an intriguing time-lapse video of the skilful process was shared on Instagram and Twitter.

Check it out:

can’t talk rn, i’m becoming vecna.
[brought to life by barrie gower] pic.twitter.com/1EYf7wcjIy

— Stranger Things (@Stranger_Things) June 15, 2022

Bower gradually transforms into Vecna while seated in his trailer, chatting on the phone, and nonchalantly slurping a Starbucks drink in the video.

His hair is coiffed and placed in a bald cap first, and then the crew covers his entire body with numerous prosthetic segments, which are attached with glue.

According to Gower, the process originally took eight and a half hours from start to finish, but his team later reduced it to just over six hours.

They began by creating a full-body cast for Bower, then divided it into approximately 25 parts, created moulds for each, and infused the moulds with various materials such as silicone and foam latex.

“It was just like big patchwork quilt bits that were all pre-artworked to the highest degree in London,” Gower said.

“We’d glue all of it together on the actor’s skin, then use airbrushes and dyes to connect all the dots and make it all seamless. It’s a massive undertaking.”

Each day of filming necessitated a new set of prosthetics, so Gower and his team ended up building around 26 separate sets to use while shooting.

Here are more artsy shots of the process from Gower’s Instagram.

Alongside behind-the-scenes images of Bower’s Vecna transition, Gower wrote on Instagram, “It was a well-planned marathon that could not have happened without a stellar team and Jamie’s unwavering perseverance and stamina. Sir, you have my eternal respect.”

I couldn’t agree more- my butt cramped just watching the breathtaking vid.