In the latest Stranger Things trailer, Hopper fighting a Demogorgon and a bare-chested Steve battling monsters is just the top of the dark iceberg.
Season 4 is nearly here, and so, it seems, is the Upside Down War. That’s a war that can’t be won without Eleven’s powers. And the big bad on the side of darkness? Vecna.
Is that a cenobite in the ending seconds? The big baddie? That’s Vecna. Vecna is a powerful lich, an undead ruler, the Chained God and Lord of the Rotted Tower who ascended to godhood in the Forgotten Realms.
It’s become a Stranger Things custom to name the series uber-monster after a D&D critter, and this feels like the best match yet. At the end of this trailer, the demonic entity looks like a chained god or demon.
The Duffer brothers, in charge of the show, told IGN;
Something else we really wanted to do go back to Season 1 and actually do a monster that we could do mostly practically. 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.
The Upside Down will be a bigger part of Stranger Things series 4 than previously. An interview between the Duffer brothers and IGN makes that clear.
We spend more time in the Upside Down than any other season.
Sounds scary? The theme or atmosphere for this part of the story absolutely leans towards horror. Matt Duffer notes;
We’ve wanted to do the haunted house thing, I think, for a while. Every year we’re trying to do something different. This was a more horror-leaning season. We had our kids, they’re obviously in high school, and it just felt very natural that they should be in a horror movie.”
Just how much in the way of battles there will be compared to 80s styles fright night remains to be seen, but the trailer suggests a bit of both is likely.
Stranger Things season 4 is due out on Netflix on May 27th.
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