Jamie Campbell Bower Hits Back At Vecna Backlash, Calling It Vile Vitriol
After years under the radar, Jamie Campbell Bower exploded into the mainstream with Stranger Things, morphing into the grotesque Vecna — Henry Creel — One in a bone-chilling, career-making turn that sparked an instant fan frenzy.
Jamie Campbell Bower has been around for a minute, but let’s be real: Stranger Things made him a household nightmare. As Vecna (aka Henry Creel, aka One), he went from familiar face to capital-V Villain, and fans ate it up.
The Vecna of it all
In a recent Rolling Stone chat, Bower laughed off the digs about his gnarly transformation. A character in the show famously calls Vecna a "wrinkled noseless rotting bastard," which, yes, is vivid. Bower’s response to the noise: "Don’t listen to the vile vitriol that is spewed by others!" The look fits the Upside Down’s gory vibe, but it didn’t come easy. He spent hours in the chair getting covered in prosthetics to become Hawkins’ worst-case scenario.
And because of course he did, Bower confessed in an Instagram video that he swiped a prop from set: Vecna’s tentacled hand. His explanation is peak chaos: "I do. I have one, but it doesn’t have the mechanism in it, so it just kind of flops around. I put it on; show people when they come over."
- Age check: 36
- Breakout: Vecna/Henry Creel/One in Stranger Things
- Previous credits: young Gellert Grindelwald in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1; lead in The Mortal Instruments opposite Lily Collins
- Award: The Television Award at the ZYN Rolling Stone UK Awards 2025
- Flashback notes: Bower appears as Henry/One; Raphael Luce plays an even younger Henry
- Stage prequel: Stranger Things: The First Shadow has been running in London’s West End since November 2023 and on Broadway since March 2025; Louis McCartney plays Henry
- Next up: Stranger Things Season 5 hits Netflix on November 26, 2025
The First Shadow set him up for Season 5
The Henry Creel backstory isn’t just hinted at on TV. The stage prequel Stranger Things: The First Shadow really digs in, with Louis McCartney playing Henry as a tragic kid headed down a very dark path. Bower went to the first night in London and said it was a "highly emotionally charged" experience. He got "wildly emotional" watching this damaged teenage version become the killer we know.
"I know this boy, and to see those things about him presented in front of me, which were things that I had considered anyway, made it all feel so real. I just wanted to give him a hug."
He says seeing that story play out was definitely helpful when stepping back into Vecna for Season 5.
How he built the villain: voice, vibe, influences
When the Duffers pitched Vecna, they pointed Bower toward Doug Bradley’s Pinhead in 1987’s Hellraiser as a tonal reference. That became his starting point. The script also called for a "big booming voice," but he refused to do the generic monster growl. His take: feel every moment and make the voice truthful, not a gimmick. As he put it: "You know, I could do a [generic] monster voice, which would have been fine. But there was something about this, and where I was artistically at that point, that made me want to feel every single moment of this. His voice had to come from a place of real truth."
Fans noticed. One Redditor nailed it with: "It’s all in the face. He just has a really good villainous stare, whereas most actors will just look like they just have resting b**ch face." Another went with: "Angelic, seemingly charming, but completely unhinged."
Last word (for now)
Between the marathon prosthetics, the stage-prequel homework, and a voice built from character not clichés, Bower’s Vecna stuck the landing. Season 5 arrives November 26, 2025. And if someone at your door waves a floppy tentacle hand, maybe it’s just Jamie showing off the souvenirs.