SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers from Season 5, Volume 2 of “Stranger Things, now streaming on Netflix.
Jamie Campbell Bower is used to playing the big bad — whether his name is Vecna, One or Henry. But in Volume 2 of “Stranger Things,” he takes the character a step further into possibly his creepiest yet, a cult-leader-like performance as Mr. WhatsIt.
“Jim Jones was an early reference for me,” Bower says, citing the leader of the cult the Peoples Temple, who in November 1978 led more than 900 of his followers to commit mass suicide in Jonestown, Guyana. “He was on the mood board, even with regard to certain things that he’s saying when the kids are all in front of him. There were points where I thought, ‘Do I say the word “you” or do I use the word “we”? We’re a family now.’ That’s really grim! It totally can remove the idea of autonomy, so definitely there had to be that level of cult leader-esqueness about him.”
Although Mr. WhatsIt doesn’t look as villainous as Vecna, it was just as “terrifying” to take on the different character, says Bower: “There was so much fear in playing that.”
His approach for Season 5 overall was very different than Season 4, when he was crafting Henry’s memories.
“What you saw in Season 4 happened, and it was real. This is very much like, how nice can I be to these poor children to make them feel as comfortable as possible in this world? And how much of my experience am I burying within that? And it’s always a really terrifying prospect when you’re sat opposite another actor, and your intentions are so deeply buried,” he says. “There’s a level of real dishonesty in that, and that’s really scary. It’s really hard, particularly opposite a child.”
Courtesy of Netflix
When Bower first took on the role, he told Variety about the humanity he focused on while playing Vecna. Now, that’s a bit tougher to access, as the character gets worse and worse and kills more and more people — but, Bower says, it’s still there.
“There’s definitely a humanity that I can see,” he says now. “How much of that is portrayed in this volume is open for discussion and interpretation — there’s definitely trauma and experience that is present but unexplored at this point.”
Having seen the show’s prequel play “Stranger Things: The First Shadow” ahead of Season 5, Bower knew that something that happens to Henry at age 8 in a cave had been a “monumental experience” that was “life-altering” — he was never the same after that. Then, he begged the Duffer brothers for more information about Henry’s backstory.
“It was something that I really felt like I had to pry out of Matt and Ross Duffer. They weren’t wildly forthcoming with that, because obviously, they wanted to protect it, but it was important for me to know what that was and why that was the case,” he says. “So, it was just a question of taking with me what I’d learned from the play, and then also just being irritating and asking questions.”
In Episode 6, as Max (Sadie Sink) and Holly (Nell Fisher) make their way through Henry’s memories, looking for a way out of his mindscape, they come upon what may be the answer to what happened to him. In a mine shaft, young Henry comes upon an injured man holding a silver suitcase, who shoots Henry in his hand in a panic. Holly and Max watch as Henry beats the man to death in self-defense, and start to open the case — but then Max calls Holly away. When asked what’s inside that silver suitcase, Bower has a one-word tease: “reason.”
As for what he can say about the series finale, which drops on Netflix on Dec. 31? Expect the unexpected. The last scene in Episode 7, “The Bridge,” is Henry and the 12 children he’s kidnapped — most of whom worship him, as with a cult leader — joining hands at the Creel dinner table. He needs them to complete Vecna’s quest to remake the world, presumably replacing the Rightside Up with the Abyss.
“The end of 7 is an incredible setup for what is to come. And if you think you know what is to come at the beginning of 8, you’re probably wrong,” Bower says. “It really does blow the fuck up. Whatever you think you know will be exceeded.”
• The Duffer Brothers Break Down All the Volume 2 Spoilers
• The Duffer Brothers Break Down All the Volume 1 Spoilers
• Our 13 Burning Questions Ahead of the Series Finale
• Noah Schnapp on That Scene in Volume 2
• Noah Schnapp on Turning Into the [SPOILER] in Volume 1
• Why Will’s Coming Out is Seismic
• Director Shawn Levy on Will’s Huge Breakthrough
• Sadie Sink on Max’s Key Role in Volume 1
• Nell Fisher on Playing Holly Wheeler in Season 5
• The Cast of ‘Stranger Things’ on the Show’s Final Days
• Variety’s “Stranger Things” Oct. 15 Cover Story About the Duffers
• Cara Buono on Karen’s Kick-Ass Hero Moment (At Last)
• The Duffer Brothers on the ‘Stranger Things’ Spinoff
• Linda Hamilton on Being Millie Bobby Brown’s ‘Biggest Fan’
• Shawn Levy on ‘Sticking the Landing’ for Season 5
• David Harbour on How ‘Stranger Things’ Has Changed Him
