Jamie Campbell Bower, the actor behind the famous ‘Stranger Things’ supervillain Vecna, spoke about his character in an interview. According to him, the character was way more humane than any other character on the show.
Despite Vecna’s murderous tendencies, Bower expressed how he thought the way his character met an end on ‘Stranger Things’ was unfair. He even didn’t like how Vecna’s backstory was portrayed. Bower even discussed his journey of tapping into Vecna’s character in an interview.
Jamie Campbell Bower Wants Justice For Vecna
Jamie Campbell Bower joined the show in the fourth season to play Vecna. The character began his journey as a human with telekinetic powers. After he murdered his father, he joined Martin Brenner’s Hawkins National Laboratory. Also, he became the first child to be subjected to experiments.
“He grew up in an environment where his father murdered a villain and a civilian family on the orders of people he never knew, who were presenting themselves as these upstanding citizens,” Bower told Variety of the character in an interview. “In whose eyes are they upstanding? I’m still angry about it now!”
Everything about Vecna’s past came to light in episode seven i.e. in the first part of season four. It is the same episode where a young Eleven banished Vecna to the Upside Down. Bower said that while his character had “a lot of humanity,” Eleven’s banishment stripped him down to “rage and resentment.” Bower said, “That is enraging. It’s more than that — it’s hate-fueling. It’s irritating. It’s actually really irritating.”
He further expressed how he feels about Vecna: “Am I able to view him as a villain? I’m certainly able to view him as a point of conflict. But in terms of, like, is he evil or villainous? I mean, I understand him, and I love him. And I relate to him. I just got a pain in my eyes as I was saying that — maybe I should shut up! Like, I understand him, and so I’m always gonna be on his side.”
How Bower Tapped Into Vecna’s Psyche
In an interview with People, Bower discussed how he tapped into the character’s dark feelings. He discussed how he printed snapshots of each of Vecna’s victims, crossing out their eyes. He placed them on his wall and kept staring at them. “Resentment is a massive driving force for Vecna,” Bower said. “He already has this belief system that the world is a lie and that it’s unjust. And so preparing was about bringing that up and digging that up more, [which meant] a lot of heavy, dark meditation, low-frequency sounds, a lot of saying the same kind of thing over and over again.”
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