Stranger Things’ Cast Hope Season 4’s Baddie Vecna ​​Will Shake Up The Series

While the series has had its fair share of ups and downs in previous seasons, the hype for the upcoming fourth season of Stranger Things, or at least the first part, is very real. With some of the cast having left Hawkins, Indiana, for California or mysteriously ending up in Russia, it’s only a matter of time before everyone reunites to tackle the great new evil that threatens the world unless they find one. Able to end.

For this new season, the new antagonist is Vecna, a powerful divine Lich from Dungeons & Dragons. Throughout the series, Stranger Things has had no trouble referring to the popular TTRPG, and it plays a key role in this new season via Vecna ​​and newcomer Eddie, a D&D nerd played by Joseph Quinn. Previously, the Duffer Brothers have hyped Vecna ​​as a scarier entity than the Demogorgons of past seasons. At the season’s premiere party last night, the cast went even further in building Vecna’s menace. David Harbor, who plays sheriff turned surrogate father Hopper, described him to Variety as a different kind of horror for the series, even going so far as to call him the overall big baddie the series needed.

“The Upside Down is this Wild West world where creatures run around,” Harbor acknowledged, “but we’ve never seen anything psychologically ill-calculated like this… Vecna ​​is a psychological horror that I don’t think we have.” really seen.” While Hopper doesn’t deal directly with the lich, evil will be felt as he fights a Demogorgon who has taken over a Russian prison.

Due to the alleged terror of the character, he has been brought to life with mostly practical effects. In April, Ross Duffer emphasized the importance of beneficial consequences for the actors to sell their terror. The character’s appearance comes from prosthetic artist Barrie Gower, who previously worked on the Night King for HBO’s Game of Thrones. “It’s unmatched,” said Joe Kerry, who plays Steve on the show. A fan of old horror movies and practical effects, he loved having a real Vecna ​​to play with while filming. “No other people do similar things, so as the fan in me, I just went crazy.”

Priah Ferguson and Gaten Matarazzo, who play Erica Sinclar and Dustin Henderson, respectively, promised that Vecna’s debut would shake up the show’s tone. “Vecna ​​is very scary, and it’s something that messes with your mind,” Ferguson said. Matarazzo added: “He brings a whole new vibe to how we deal with our villains and how we will continue to do so in the future.”

The first part of the fourth season of Stranger Things will be released on Netflix on May 27, and part two will be released on July 1.

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Editor’s Note: The release dates in this article are based in the US but will be updated with local Australian dates as we learn more.