Stranger Things creators explain Vecna’s ‘new design’ as fans ask big questions

Vecna’s undergone a ‘new design’ and it’s gone viral among Stranger Things fans, with even the actor himself, Jamie Campbell Bower, getting in on the joke.

Now, it only takes one glance at the epic finale of Volume One to see that the monster has had quite the transformation.

I mean, just putting season four Vecna side-by-side with season five Vecna, it almost looks like he ‘has a twin’ as one fan pointed out online.

And the Netflix show’s creators, the Duffer Brothers, have explained the changes as it’s said the creatives wanted to make the villain look like he's ‘on steroids’. But while that would surely mean Vecna would be bulked up, Stranger Things fans can’t help but notice he was looking pretty ‘snatched’ when he entered the real world.

Fans’ response to Vecna's new appearance in Stranger Things Vol. 5

“Got himself a snatched waist and shoulder movement okkk,” fans wrote on X as they said Vecna knew he was about to ‘have an audience and had to look ‘c*nty’.

“Is BBL or Ozempic a thing in the Upside Down?” many asked as they said the episode was the ‘vanishing of Vecna’s waist’.

Others even put a play on words of one of his latest’ nicknames as they called him ‘Mr Whatwaist’, in reference to Vecna's latest victims referring to him as 'Mr Whatsit'.

“Why is he on Ozempic now?” another joked as many agreed he seems to have picked up a ‘new body’ for season five.

“He been in the gym running up that hill too,” one wrote.

And as fans were left to ponder over just what has happened to Vecna’s appearance between seasons, Campbell Bower reposted a meme about ‘Vecna coming out with a 14-inch waist’ with a simple pout emoji.

While another took to Reddit to point out the finer details of the transformation: "Okay while I realise Vecna was never a healthy looking fella, this is pretty next level!!! You can see organs, his arms are just bones wrapped in vines.. he’s like an animated corpse."

Vecna in season four. (Netflix)

Vecna ‘on steroids’

When the villain was first introduced on screen last season, the Stranger Things team built full-body prosthetics that took roughly eight hours to apply on the actor.

But this team round, prosthetics makeup designer Barrie Gower told the LA Times they wanted to make ‘Vecna on steroids’.

As the creators wanted Vecna to feel more powerful and reflect his injuries from the previous finale, they didn’t want his upgrade to be in the ‘cliché, bigger and bulkier way’.

A blend of practical and visual effects were used to accomplish the monster’s final look as it’s said to have taken about three months to create.

Vecna’s mutilated arm and hand is now extendable and the vines over his body ‘now have a Medusa-like quality’ which essentially serve ‘as armour’.

Concept illustrator and visual effects supervisor, Michael Maher Jr. explained that it clicked for him that: “Vecna 2.0 could be simultaneously more exposed and sharper.”

Vecna is looking snatched in season five. (Netflix)

The Duffer Brothers explain

Speaking to Variety, it was pointed out to Matt and Ross Duffer that Vecna is ‘looking good’ after he was almost killed at the end of last season.

And Matt said that there’s actually a ‘backstory’ to that which is ‘never revealed’ in the show.

“The idea of it was based a little bit on the original ‘Hellraiser,’ although it’s different than that,” he added.

“But yeah, he retreated to lick his wounds. Nancy blew holes all through his body, so he more or less rebuilt his body into something stronger and hopefully cooler.”

However, the Stranger Things creator admitted it was a ‘challenge’ as they also wanted Vecna’s new design to reflect that he’d been injured in the battle.

“That’s why we ultimately had to go full CG on his body was because you see holes throughout his body. It was figuring out that balance took a long time,” Matt added.

And while Campbell Bower is basically ‘just in a leotard’, his face is totally him, just in makeup.

“We don’t touch that at all,” Matt said. “That’s fully Jamie.”

Stranger Things 5, Volume One, is now streaming on Netflix