{"id":17512,"date":"2022-06-26T12:07:44","date_gmt":"2022-06-26T10:07:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1669156"},"modified":"2022-06-26T12:27:13","modified_gmt":"2022-06-26T10:27:13","slug":"stranger-things-vecna-was-inspired-by-two-very-different-hbo-series","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/stranger-things-vecna-was-inspired-by-two-very-different-hbo-series\/","title":{"rendered":"Stranger Things\u2019 Vecna was inspired by two very different HBO series"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Laura Denby\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Sunday, 26 June 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Stranger Things\u2019<\/a> latest resident villain, Vecna<\/a>, was inspired by two other TV dramas \u2013 and fans may be surprised by the very different shows that brought influences on the character\u2019s terrifying design.<\/p>\n

Barrie Gower, the prosthetic make-up designer behind Vecna\u2019s look for the show, revealed the unusual influences behind the character\u2019s appearance.<\/p>\n

Speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com<\/a>, Gower said: \u201cWe got approached by an incredible producer called Iain Paterson and the brothers \u2013 the Duffer brothers. They approached us in 2019 \u2013 towards the tail end of 2019. They got in touch, and said that they had this character that they wanted to create for the new season, and they wanted their own iconic villain.\u201d<\/p>\n

He went on to explain that team behind Stranger Things took inspiration from two of HBO\u2019s biggest hit shows which Gower himself worked on.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd they were big fans of the Night King, a character we created for Game of Thrones<\/a>. And also, I had worked, at the time, on HBO\u2019s Chernobyl<\/a> \u2013 on all the radiation-burn victims.<\/p>\n

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Vecna in Stranger Things 4<\/span><\/figcaption> Courtesy of Netflix<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

\u201cAnd I think they were looking for something that had a similar almost-look and feel and texture to some of those makeups \u2013 but to have this iconic presence, not unlike the Night King.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vecna, a sentient creature that is aligned with the Upside Down, began life as a human named Henry Creel. But the young Henry later discovered he had psychokinetic abilities and could alter the perception of others. This led to unbearably evil deeds, and Vecna\u2019s presence in season 4 of Stranger Things marked the arrival of a villain unlike anything the show had seen before.<\/p>

Rather than trying to replicate Gower\u2019s effective creations on previous shows, naturally it made sense to approach the man himself when it came to creating Vecna \u2013 and that\u2019s exactly how his involvement in Stranger Things came about.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I think in their early discussions when they were talking about the brief and saying, \u2018We want someone who\u2019s very practical, and is going to have a presence on set, and is going to be prosthetic makeup, and is something along the lines of a character like the Night King\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they were like, \u2018Well, why don\u2019t we approach the guys who made the Night King?\u2019 So I think that\u2019s how we got a shoo-in there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vecna is a truly terrifying presence, so we\u2019d certainly say that the right choice was made \u2013 though in this case, it seems that not even Dragonglass or Valyrian steel will help in the fight against him\u2026<\/p>\n

Additional reporting by Huw Fullerton<\/em><\/p>\n

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