Millie Bobby Brown addresses Stranger Things character’s ‘slimmer’ appearance

Millie Bobby Brown has heard what fans are saying about how much a Stranger Things character has changed, and she’s not having it.

The sci-fi horror series recently returned for the first four episodes of its fifth and final season, and Netflix viewers couldn’t help but notice that Vecna has a new look this time round.

For those who might have been living under a rock – not to be confused with the Upside Down – Vecna is the show’s sinister and terrifying villain.

Jamie Campbell Bower plays the monster – and his human alter ego Henry Creel – with grey flesh, gruesome face and all round creepy form.

For season five – which follows the end of season four where he got shot and burned – Vecna has a fresh design, coasting a larger but more skeletal form with veins, muscles and ligaments on show.

On The Tonight Show this week, Jimmy Fallon told co-host Millie Bobby Brown: ‘A lot of fans noticed that Vecna looks slimmer this season, and they’re saying that he’s on Ozempic.’

Millie, 21, has been outspoken about the way people talk about her own looks changing as she’s grown up in the spotlight, and she couldn’t resist a cheeky quip.

‘I saw that too,’ she said during their opening monologue. ‘It’s funny that people are commenting on Vecna’s body. I mean, God help him if he gets a little lip filler!’

Why did Vecna’s appearance change?

Actor Jamie brings the character to life through a combination of practical and digital effects, and he recently opened up himself about how Vecna’s look changed.

‘Well, as we saw at the end of season four, Vecna suffered a fall and obviously was sort of almost burned alive,’ he told Screen Rant.

‘My understanding of it is that the reason he looks the way he does now is a byproduct of partly of that process. And also, just having spent more time, not in the human world as it were.’

The Duffer Brothers, who created and still write Stranger Things, were inspired by the original Hellraiser, and they explained the look was a ‘challenge’ to figure out.

‘He retreated to lick his wounds. Nancy blew holes all through his body, so he more or less rebuilt his body into something stronger and hopefully cooler,’ they told Variety.

‘But it was a challenge because we also wanted his new design to reflect the fact that he had been injured. That’s why we ultimately had to go full CG on his body was because you see holes throughout his body. It was figuring out that balance took a long time.’

While Millie was naturally joking about the character’s new build, she has made it clear how she feels about the speculation over her own changing appearance.

‘I started in this industry when I was 10 years old. I grew up in front of the world, and for some reason, people can’t seem to grow with me. Instead, they act like I’m supposed to stay frozen in time, like I should still look the way I did on Stranger Things season one. And because I don’t, I’m now a target,’ she said in an Instagram video.

In interviews, she has pointed out that it’s been over a decade since fans were introduced to her in Stranger Things.

‘A thing that I get a lot is like, “Oh my God, she looks like 40.” And I’m like, well yeah, you did meet me when I was 10, so I understand,’ she told the Call Her Daddy podcast. ‘Now I’m 21, it’s been 10 years. She grows. My face, like, grew. What do you want me to do about that?’

Stranger Things can be streamed on Netflix. The second volume of season 5 will be available from Christmas Day.

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