No, Vecna Wasn’t on Ozempic: How the ‘Stranger Things’ VFX Team Rebuilt Its Villain

When Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer said they wanted the fifth and final season of the Netflix sci-fi drama to be a “mega movie,” the VFX team knew they would have their work cut out for them.

The coming-of-age series requires “way more shots than are normally done on a two-hour feature,” VFX supervisor Betsy Paterson tells THR , noting that the show’s overall budget was expanded for the final season. This allowed the crew to execute an epic conclusion to the series’ decade-long run that saw the beloved Hawkins gang unite for a final showdown to take down Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower). Related Stories TV THR Live: As Final Voting Is Underway, Which Shows Are Going to Win Emmy Gold? TV How 'Death by Lightning' Made James Garfield's Assassination Feel "Shakespearean"

However, before the VFX team could tackle the monsters, they had to make the otherworldly dimensions that the series is known for seem realistic. The team relied heavily on practical effects, which were later punched up with visual effects. Paterson notes it’s important to the Duffer brothers to have sets that feel as tactile as possible, so “no matter how crazy this stuff gets, you are really seeing it from the perspective of these kids who are in the real world,” she says. “We’re always building things for the actors to interact with.”

Two examples are the wall in the interdimensional wormhole known as the Upside Down that serves as a portal between Earth and the alternate realm of the Abyss, and the liquefying room inside the Hawkins National Lab where Nancy (Natalia Dyer) and Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) are trapped.

“We built a big chunk of that membrane wall for Hopper [David Harbour] and Eleven [Millie Bobby Brown] to climb on,” Paterson explains. “The goo in the melting room was real goo wherever it touches anything or the actors.”