Stranger Things actor Jamie Campbell Bower has shared that he’s looking forward to not playing a villain for a while, after starring as Vecna in two seasons of the show.
READ MORE: ‘Stranger Things’ season 5 may not be released this year: “A lot of it hasn’t been decided”
As reported by People, during a fan event at MegaCon Orlando in Florida, Bower revealed that he’d had discussions with his therapist about playing the evil, telepathic character.
He said: “We were going through some stuff, and he was like, ‘We really need to make sure that you carve out time for you whenever you’re working next’. I turned around to him, and I was like, ‘Yeah, to be honest with you, man, I just don’t think I’ll be doing another bad guy for a minute’.”
He continued: “Like, it fucks me up. I’m dead serious.”
Bower joined the hit Netflix show in season four as Henry Creel, a man with psychic and telekinetic abilities who became 001 – the first test subject of Dr Martin Brenner (Matthew Modine) and a precursor to Millie Bobby Brown’s Eleven.
After his murderous rampage at Hawkins Lab, Eleven transported Henry through dimensions into the Upside Down, where he became Vecna, the gruesome humanoid antagonist responsible for much of the supernatural goings-on in Stranger Things so far.
He’ll return as Vecna in the fifth and final season of Stranger Things, undergoing hours in the make-up chair to transform into the all-powerful arch-villain.
Despite being grateful for the role, Bower is ready to say goodbye to the character. He said: “It’s been amazing, and it’s been an incredible journey, to join the show from season four, to be part of something that so many people love and something that I loved as well and still love.
“But I definitely am ready to hang up the foam latex and wish him a slippery farewell.”
Bower isn’t the only star of the show to have opened up recently about its impact on them personally. Last week (February 13), Brown admitted that she doesn’t have “many friends” as a result of her time spent making the series.
As well as Bower and Brown, Stranger Things also stars David Harbour, Winona Ryder, Finn Wolfhard, Sadie Sink, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Joe Keery and Maya Hawke. It was created by brothers Matt and Ross Duffer.
Filming on season five of Stranger Things wrapped in December 2024, with some photos from the wrap party surfacing online. Many of the cast have opened up about how emotional it was to complete the show, with Brown sharing a heartfelt farewell letter on Instagram and Wolfhard saying in January 2025 that it “couldn’t have ended better”.
It’s not yet confirmed when the final season of Stranger Things will arrive on Netflix.