Jamie Campbell Bower Unpacks Vecna’s Reign of Terror in STRANGER THINGS 5 Vol. 2: “There Are Times Where I Feel Wildly Inhuman”

Stranger Things Season 5 Volume 2 doesn’t ease anyone back into Hawkins. It kicks the door down. With only a handful of episodes left, the story reveals where Vecna has been hiding and what he’s been building toward, and it puts Jamie Campbell Bower right at the center of the chaos.

As the pieces snap into place, Vecna isn’t just a lurking nightmare anymore, he’s an active force pushing the world toward collapse.

The new episodes reveal that the Upside Down isn’t the ultimate source of the horror after all. Instead, it’s a kind of wormhole tethering Hawkins to another realm Dustin names “The Abyss,” believed to be the true home of the Mind Flayer, the demogorgons, and whatever ancient evil has been pulling the strings all along.

Vecna has been impossible to find this season because he hasn’t been in Hawkins or the Upside Down. He’s been hiding far above them in this inaccessible dimension, setting the stage for the final act.

While the group struggles to uncover that truth, Vecna is busy tightening his grip on Max and Holly. Trapped inside his mind, the girls realize the only way out isn’t through their own memories but through his.

That journey leads to one of the most disturbing moments of the season, as they witness a young Henry Creel murder a man in a cave. The scene sheds light on Henry’s long standing fears and hints at why he avoids certain spaces within his own mind.

Max escapes, but Holly doesn’t. By the end of Episode 7, Vecna begins the process of merging worlds, teeing up a two hour finale that promises total mayhem.

“[Episode] 8 comes in steaming hot, right off the back of 7. It’s go time. It’s really, really explosive,” Bower tells Deadline.

These episodes spend time digging into Henry Creel and according to Bower, none of this deeper mythology was part of the pitch when he first joined the show.

“I don’t think any of it was pitched to me when I joined. I do remember towards the end of filming the Henry portion of Season 4, Matt and Ross, sort of, we had a little aside conversation, and they were like, ‘This has been amazing.

“We were always going to bring you back as Vecna, but now we feel like we should bring you back more as you.’ and I was just like, ‘Cool. Sounds great. Whatever you guys want.’ So, with regards to the story arc, none of it was pitched to me, and I think it was, from what I’ve heard and read from Matt and Ross, it was something that sort of developed in the in-between time.”

That focus gave Bower the chance to work closely with the younger cast, often in scenes that required him to be especially cruel while hiding Vecna’s true intent.

“It was awesome. I mean, there were definitely times where it was terrifying for me. I’ve been vocal about this today and when we were discussing the first chapters as well. The Mr. Whatsit side of things, this is a presentation, and the intention is buried.

“So when you’re sat opposite a child, burying the intention, children, naturally, can see through the BS and lies. It’s a very terrifying experience at times to be sat there…but it was also a lot of fun too, because the kids were so great.”

Despite the darkness of the material, Bower describes those days on set as some of the most rewarding, especially sharing scenes with actors like Jake Connelly and seeing how fans have embraced Derek as a character.

The emotional core of Volume 2 comes from Henry’s buried trauma, particularly the cave sequence that reframes his descent into violence. For Bower, those moments were both difficult and freeing to play.

“It is something that I thought about going into Season 4, even, and had qualified between 4 and 5 when I went to go and see the play.

“So, getting to play those scenes out, I felt at times like a huge release, and it was also really important for me to go into those scenes understanding the trauma and the experience to bring that level of humanity forward…because there are times where I feel wildly inhuman, monstrous, and I know that sounds obvious, but like truly monstrous. So I took great pleasure in those moments for sure.”

One standout scene shows Henry physically transitioning from One into Vecna, which is a scene that required meticulous planning and physical control.

“That particular moment, the physicality of that was something that we worked on with, actually, with somebody who works in the video game space…So the shift between Whatsit and Henry was something that we worked on off set prior to shooting it.”

Bower even tapped into his background in dance to help sell the transformation, turning a brief scene into something unnerving and precise.

When it comes to separating Henry from Vecna emotionally, Bower sees it less as a clean break and more as a gradual erosion.

“I think Henry was so close, was much closer to innocence… and then when he was sent to that slippery, veiny demise at the end of [Season] 4, it became about resentment, and at that point, it felt like humanity had gone. It felt like the possibility of love was so far away.”

That absence of love is what ultimately defines Vecna, making him something far removed from the lonely boy he once was.

As for the finale, Bower is excited for fans to experience it, even if he’s still processing what the role means to him.

“What do I hope people take away from this character? Wow, I’m still in process on that…So much of this character is based on the idea of loneliness. So much of this character is based on the idea of salvation.”

Stranger Things is barreling toward its end with Vecna fully unleashed. Whatever happens next, Bower’s performance has turned the show’s final villain into one of its most layered and unsettling creations.