Stranger Things: Sadie Sink's First Reaction To Seeing Vecna Wasn't What You Think

Sadie Sink's pivotal arc facing off against Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) as Max on "Stranger Things 4" took the world by storm. It even managed to resuscitate a nearly 40-year-old Kate Bush song. But while Sink's situation on the Netflix series involved being stalked and nearly killed by the monstrous mastermind of the Upside Down, her reaction to him in real life was quite comical.

Vecna, the Season 4 "Stranger Things" villain who preys on his victims' fears, is the most terrifying antagonist "Stranger Things" has ever created. And he's not just scary on screen. The Upside Down denizen's sickening appearance, his face a bloody skull with masses of pulsating tendrils extending from it, is almost entirely a practical effect (and not even the most hideous design concept for Vecna). Bower sat for hours each day having the creepy prosthetics applied and removed, and while they were on, he was a walking nightmare. In fact, Bower's appearance as Vecna was so disturbing that, upon seeing him in costume for the first time, Millie Bobby Brown burst into tears.

Bower's co-star Sadie Sink, on the other hand, had the opposite reaction. When she saw Bower in all his Vecna glory, she couldn't help but laugh. Speaking to Vulture in July 2022, the actor explained that she'd previously met Bower only once, during a table read for Season 4. Unprepared for what he'd look like after multiple hours of prosthetics, she couldn't help but giggle. "I had no idea what Vecna was going to look like until I saw him for the first time," Sink said. "Jamie was so convincing and believable that I forgot there was a human in there. ... When I first saw him, I started laughing uncontrollably. Just total laughter. I didn't know what I was looking at."

Although she may have laughed at the sight of Jamie Campbell Bower in full costume as the hideous Vecna, "Stranger Things" star Sadie Sink quickly learned how frightening he can truly be. In fact, even her initial mirthful outburst was the result of mixed emotions. As she told Vulture while recalling the experience, "I was scared, but fascinated, and feeling such a weird array of emotions that it just came out as laugher." But the "The Whale" star was quick to clarify, "Once we started filming, I wasn't laughing anymore, that's for sure."

Fans of "Stranger Things" will recall that much of Season 4's plot revolves around Vecna's attempts to claim Sink's character, Max, by haunting her with visions of her dead brother, Billy (Dacre Montgomery). He then invades her mind while she visits Billy's grave, and he nearly succeeds in killing Max before her friends arrive to rescue her with the aid of a tape player and the musical stylings of Kate Bush.

Aside from the mental anguish of embodying such a troubled character, Sink had to act opposite Bower's Vecna in those intense scenes, with her scene partner fully Vecna-tized. "Touching Vecna's prosthetics?" Sink said with a groan. "It just doesn't feel right. It's slimy and it's fragile. [In] the scene where I rip off one of the vine-tentacles, I actually couldn't pull anything away with me, because then I would break the prosthetics and they would have to stop and reset all of it."

But Sink and Bower are destined to face off once again, as the squelchy villain's assault on Hawkins in Season 4 was only just the beginning. Season 5 will be the harrowing conclusion of "Stranger Things," when Vecna's final assault begins in earnest.