Be warned, if you have been living under a rock and still have yet to see Stranger Things Season 4 - but for some reason still want to read an article about it, MAJOR SPOILERS ahead…
The villain of Stranger Things Season 4, Vecna AKA Henry Creel AKA One, has proven to be the most terrifying monster to emerge from The Upside Down. And it turns out Vecna could have been even scarier still. Several alternate designs for Vecna have now emerged courtesy of the Emmy-nominated concept artist and director Michael Maher Jr, and they are truly the stuff of nightmares.
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“Early Vecna concept art - based on a prehistoric fish, this design had an armored shell,” Maher Jr said in a caption alongside the image. Sporting spiky, scaly skin as opposed to the burnt, decayed, tentacled flesh of the Vecna’s final design, this take on the Stranger Things bad guy is far more monstrous and far less human than what eventually made its way onto the screen.
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This second image offers another angle, with the caption reading, “Early Vecna concept design - this design features a spiky, armored shell to reflect what might happen after living in the upside down for too long.” Maher Jr clearly put a lot of thought into what would happen to a person who has been left to survive in The Upside Down for an extended period of time, reasoning that it could result in an “armored shell.”
This final alternate design is utterly horrifying, with Henry Creel losing his human face in place of a set of beady eyes and a giant, sharp-toothed, blood-soaked mouth. “Early Vecna design - this design wouldn’t allow for enough expression and was eventually cut,” the artist said alongside the artwork.
Of course, while these designs are sure to have all of our imaginations stirring, Vecna’s look in Stranger Things Season 4 finds the perfect balance between human and monster. And really, the character is already plenty scary enough.
Vecna Will Return in Stranger Things Season 5
Netflix
Played by Jamie Campbell Bower, Vecna torments the Hawkins gang throughout Stranger Things Season 4. Revealed to be a man named Henry Creel, who is also One and the first experiment of Dr. Martin Brenner (Matthew Modine), the final moments of season 4 find Vecna hurt but alive and succeeding in his plan to bring The Upside Down to Hawkins. Opening a large gate right at the center of the town, the horrors of The Upside Down have started to bleed into the right-side up, with Vecna expected to continue to be the main antagonist in the fifth and final season of Stranger Things.
Starring a large ensemble cast that includes Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Noah Schnapp, Sadie Sink, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Joe Keery, Maya Hawke, Priah Ferguson, Brett Gelman, Matthew Modine and Paul Reiser, Stranger Things Season 4 is now available on Netflix in its entirety.
