STRANGER THINGS Creators Share Details on the Monstrous New Villain in Season 4

A new trailer for Stranger Things 4 dropped this week and it gave us an exciting look at the crazy horrific things that this next chapter of the story will entail. This includes the reveal of a creepy, monstrous new big bad villain.

The Duffer Brothers recently opened up about this new villain, which is called Vecna, and it was inspired by their love of iconic horror characters such as Freddie Kruger, Pinhead, and Pennywise. Ross Duffer said in an interview with IGN, "Those were the monsters that really inspired us this season.”

He went on to say that they used practical effects to bring this nightmarish creature so that the actors could actually react to it, "What you’re seeing here is 90% practical [effects]. And Vecna, throughout the season, is 90% practical. We wanted a presence on the set that our actors could react to, whereas in Season 3, they were reacting to a beach ball. We wanted something there that we could actually film, and I just think that that makes this villain scarier and more real and tangible and we’re just really excited for people to see him this season.”

I love that! You might also be interested to know that the villain shares its name with another Vecna from Dungeons & Dragons. It’s not yet clear if the name is just an Easter egg or if there’s something a little deeper going on, but Stranger Things is definitely sticking to its D&D roots.