“Stranger Things”’ Jamie Campbell Bower Talked to His Therapist About Wanting to Pause Playing Villains: ‘It F---s Me Up’
The actor opened up at MegaCon about what he hopes for his career after the hit Netflix series concludes
The actor opened up at MegaCon about what he hopes for his career after the hit Netflix series concludes Nacho Lopez/SOPA Images/Shutterstock Jamie Campbell Bower :max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(jpeg)/Jamie-Campbell-Bower-021025-3f45ecf4d87c4486aa9b49dd33da87b8.jpg "Jamie Campbell Bower")
Jamie Campbell Bower is very ready to wish Vecna “a slippery farewell” after the fifth and final season of Stranger Things comes out.
Bower, 36 — who joined Stranger Things in season 4 as Vecna (a.k.a. Henry Creel a.k.a. Subject 001) — opened up at MegaCon Orlando in Florida on Feb. 9 about taking a break from portraying villains.
The actor explained during a panel that although he’s not worried about being typecast as a villain, he would prefer to step back from the archetype. "It's funny. I was talking to my therapist the other day," he said, before assuring the MegaCon crowd that he was "dead serious" about reflecting on the recent therapy session. "I'm not lying."
“We were going through some stuff, and he was like, 'We really need to make sure that you carve out time for you whenever you're working next.' ” he said. “I turned around to him, and I was like, 'Yeah, to be honest with you, man, I just don't think I'll be doing another bad guy for a minute.' ”
"Like it f---s me up," he admitted. “I’m dead serious.”
Related: Sadie Sink Says It Was 'Really Difficult to Say Goodbye' to Stranger Things: 'We Grew Up on It'
Bower added, “It's been amazing, and it's been an incredible journey, to join the show from season 4, to be part of something that so many people love and something that I loved as well and still love. But I definitely am ready to hang up the foam latex and wish him a slippery farewell."
Stranger Things also stars Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Noah Schnapp, Sadie Sink, Joe Keery and Maya Hawke.
Season 5 is expected to see the residents of Hawkins, caught up in the mysteries surrounding the Upside Down — facing Vecna once and for all and providing answers to all the remaining questions surrounding the series. Courtesy of Netflix From left: Natalia Dyer as Nancy Wheeler, Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson, Joe Keery as Steve Harrington, Joseph Quinn as Eddie Munson, Maya Hawke as Robin Buckley, Priah Ferguson as Erica Sinclair, Sadie Sink as Max Mayfield and Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair in a ‘Stranger Things’ scene
Related: All About the 'Stranger Things' Cast and Their Real-Life Partners
While Netflix has yet to release an official trailer or synopsis for the final installment, the creators and cast have opened up about how grand and emotional the remaining episodes will be. Co-creator Matt Duffer described Stranger Things season 5 as "big and epic," while brother Ross said, "This season is the biggest it's ever been in scale."
In an interview with Variety, Harbour said that the ending is "quite moving and quite beautiful," while teasing on the Happy Sad Confused podcast that the series finale is the "best episode they've ever done."
Wolfhard, meanwhile, compared filming season 5 to Pixar's hit animated film franchise, Toy Story. "It was sort of the Toy Story 3 moment of leaving your toys behind. It was really special," he said of the experience coming to an end after 10 years.
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Bower was among the many film and TV stars — including Jude Law (Skeleton Crew) and Matt Smith (House of the Dragon) — to open up about their fan-favorite projects during panels and photo-ops over the course of MegaCon, a four-day event at the Orange County Convention Center.
