Vecna from Stranger Things season 4 is played by actor Jamie Campbell Bower. Vecna is a fictional character from the American web series, Stranger Things, available on Netflix. Vecna is first introduced in the 4th season of the web series, as the primary antagonist of the show. Vecna is a fearsome sentient creature aligned with the Upside Down. Actor Jamie Campbell Bower plays Vecna as an adult and while Raphael Luce plays Vecna as a child.
Who is Jamie Campbell Bower?
James Metcalfe Campbell Bower is an English actor, singer, and musician. In 2007, he made his feature film debut with a supporting role in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Since then, he has appeared in several other films, such as The Twilight Saga, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, and as the young Gellert Grindelwald in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.
Bower was on born 22 November 1988, and is currently 31 years old. In the 2010s, Campbell Bower was in the casts of the historical series Camelot on Starz and Will on TNT. From 2015 to 2020, he was the frontman of the London-based band Counterfeit.
What is Vecna’s story?
Vecna had humble origins as a human being named Henry Creel. After moving to a new home in Hawkins in March 1959, a young Henry discovered he had remarkable psychokinetic abilities and could alter the perception of others. Being influenced by a misanthropic and nihilistic philosophy, Henry used his powers to psychologically torture his family, eventually killing his mother and sister, and then framing his father for the crimes, which eventually drove him mad.
Dr. Martin Brenner showed interest in Henry’s situation and took him to Hawkins National Laboratory to be studied where Henry was designated 001, becoming the laboratory's first test subject. Henry's neck was implanted with Soteria, a miniature device that suppressed his powers and tracked his every movement, essentially turning him into a prisoner of the laboratory.
In time, Henry became one of several orderlies who assisted Brenner and attended the lab. Brenner would go on to replicate Henry's powers in several child test subjects, who also had their movements and lives restricted to the lab's confines.
In 1979, Henry tricked test subject Eleven into removing the Soteria chip with her powers. Henry used his restored powers to brutally murder the other test subjects, in a fit of rage, and attempted to do the same to Eleven. Eleven stood her ground and ultimately overpowered him, sending him through a gate to Upside Down. There, Henry gradually transformed into the being known as Vecna.
He became an explorer of the realm, discovering an exotic, storm-like mass of particles, and with the use of his powers, reconstitute it into a giant, spider-like entity, a being that would come to be known as “the Mind Flayer”. In 1983, Eleven accidentally opened a second, non-temporary gate at Hawkins Lab, and Vecna, acting through the Mind Flayer, attempted to eradicate humanity, both in 1984 and 1985.
In both instances, Eleven and her allies ultimately thwarted Vecna’s plans. In 1986, Vecna resurfaced and this time took a more direct approach in his attempts to destroy humanity. He began murdering a host of Hawkins residents, tormenting his victims with his curse power and using their deaths to open a series of new gates. Dustin, Nancy, Max, and others began investigating the murders, nicknaming the murderer 'Vecna' after a character from Dungeons & Dragons.
The group’s efforts to defeat Vecna culminated in a dual assault; Eleven used psychic projection to confront Vecna within his mind, while Nancy, Steve, and Robin traveled to the Upside Down version of the Creel House to attack his real body. Despite heavily wounding him, the group could not stop Vecna from furthering his plans to annihilate both Hawkins and the wider world.
How old is Vecna?
During the events of the show, and in the 4th season of Stranger Thing Vecna is 39 years old. Born on an undisclosed date in 1947, 3 versions with different ages of Vecna/Henry Creel appear in the show, 12 years, 32 years, and 39 years.
FAQs about Vecna from Stranger Things
Q. Who plays Vecna?
A. Vecna from Stranger Things season 4 is played by actor Jamie Campbell Bower.
Q. What is Vecna’s real name?
A. Vecna was previously a human named Henry Creel.
Q. How old is Vecna in season 4 of Stranger Things?
A. Henry Creel was born in 1947, making Vecna 39 years old in Season 4 of Stranger Things which takes place in 1986.
Q. Is Vecna’s Father alive?
A. Yes, Henry Creel or Vecna’s father is alive.
