Vecna actor blows fans' minds with 'beautiful' inspiration behind monster's voice

The actor who plays Vecna has led fans to making a pretty major realisation.

Jamie Campbell Bower portrays the absolute creep that is Henry Creel/001/the notorious monster in Stranger Things.

And for the recently dropped fifth and final season of the Netflix show, Vecna underwent quite a physical transformation, with the team previously explaining they wanted him ‘on steroids’.

However, much of the villain was still Bower, as the creators explained the face was ‘all him’.

Matt Duffer even said: “We don’t touch that at all.”

There seems to be a number of things the actor is control of though; it turns out he also is responsible for Vecna’s distinct voice. I mean, you could have nightmares about him talking to his victims like: “Some minds, it turns out, simply do not belong in this world. They belong in mine.”

Jamie Campbell Bower on Vecna’s voice

While the monster’s voice might sound so creepy it must have been crafted in editing, it’s actually straight from the actor.

The Twilight Saga actor joked that he ‘listened to a lot of Tom Waits’ before explaining the techniques he used to create Vecna’s voice.

“I spent a long time crafting it,” he told Independent Culture.

Bower added that it was ‘a really good starting point’ to have it that there be a ‘deep, booming voice come out of the darkness’.

Trying out a few different voices, the actor said he kept coming back to Doug Bradley as the 'beautiful' Pinhead in the Hellraiser franchise. That villain also of course has quite a deep and booming, distinct voice to help inspire Vecna.

Bower also highlighted that Pinhead also does everything ‘with purpose’ and is ‘very considered, very precise’ when he goes after victims – much like how the Stranger Things villain operates.

“But I’m a singer too,” the actor added. “So a lot of it was the idea of just relaxing, being able to be relaxed, opening up the larynx, using the diaphragm to make sure that it wasn’t too forced.

“Because obviously, when you force everything, your vocal chords close up and you get stressed out. Whereas when you’re more relaxed, it’s down here and open.”

Response from Stranger Things fans

Well, it seems Bower is so impressive with his craft that many fans didn’t realise it was actually his real voice speaking as Vecna – even if there’s a little help to make a reverb and boom it up, it’s undeniably pretty damn impressive.

“Wait THAT’S HIS REAL VOICE?!?!?!?!?!?!” one user commented on TikTok.

“That voice does NOT look like it belongs in that body,” another wrote on X.

“That's another thing that I am holding to stan Jamie! He's incredibly a great actor and voice actor!!” others agreed.

And after Bower previously appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and did the Vecna voice, fans wrote: “I always thought it was voice effects, this is talenttt.”

“The fact that it’s his real voice and not an effect is amazing,” others agreed.

“Jamie Bower is literally a king,” one put. “So much talent it’s insane.”

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