As the fourth season of Stranger Things draws near, there are plenty of questions about what lies ahead for our favorite kids. Will Eleven ever return home? Will Mike and Steve find out about her secret? And most importantly, where did the evil spirit known as “Vecna” come from?

The answer might surprise you. In fact, it might even blow your mind.

In Season 3, we saw the manifestation of a force known as “the Void,” which led to the creation of the Demogorgon. But the true origin story of the monster might lie buried deep within the minds of the show’s stars.

For example, in Episode 5, Bowers plays a role called “Mr. Smith.” He’s an employee at the local hardware store who gives Joyce a job interview. When Joyce asks him why he wants the job, Mr. Smith tells her that he likes working at the store because “it reminds of my childhood.”

But wait – Mr. Smith isn’t just some random guy; he’s actually played by Bowers himself. So, how does one actor play another actor? Well, it turns out that Bowers had already done something similar before playing Mr. Smith.

He played a man named John Wheeler in the movie The Goonies, and he used the same method to achieve a different effect.

“I think I learned everything from watching movies,” Bowers told Entertainment Weekly. “You watch actors work and try to emulate them.”

Getting the Character Right

The casting process for Stranger Things 2 began long before production began. In fact, the showrunners Matt and Ross Duffer knew nothing about the specifics of the story until the very end, which meant they needed to cast the roles of the kids in season two without knowing what they were playing.

Speaking candidly with Variety, star David Harbour revealed that neither he nor co-star Finn Wolfhard knew much about the Stranger Things character they were playing in the beginning.

“I didn’t know anything about the character,” Harbour told Variety, “and I think that’s why we’re still here.”

Despite being completely blindsided by the plot twist, Harbour says he felt like he could bring something to the table because he’d been working out the backstory of the character since the beginning.

“What I did know was that there was some darkness inside of him,” Harbour continued, “so I spent a lot of time trying to understand that darkness, trying to understand where that came from, and that helped me prepare for it.”

Harbour admits he couldn’t help but wonder how the Duffers would react to his performance once he nailed down the role. After all, they had already seen him in a different role — that of Chief Jim Hopper in Stephen King’s IT — and he wasn’t sure whether they would want him to take over the same character again. But Harbour was confident that the Duffers wouldn’t hold it against him.

“They’ve been really supportive of my career choices, and I’m glad I got to do both of those things,” Harbour said. “And now, I just feel lucky to continue doing both.”

The Elaborate Prosthetics

Vecna has been one of Doctor Strange’s most memorable villains since he first showed up in the comics in 1963. But his appearance in the 2016 film wasn’t exactly what fans expected. “I think the biggest challenge was just trying to figure out how we could make him feel like himself,” says production designer Bill Brzeski. “We wanted to make sure that you got the idea that he was a real person.” So Brzeski and his team spent months researching the life of Dr. Vincent Price, the actor who played the villainous sorcerer in several classic horror films. They learned that Price was a huge fan of the occult and that he often wore elaborate costumes while performing onstage. “He liked to dress up,” Brzeski explains. “So we thought maybe he’d love to dress up as a monster.”

Brzeski and his colleagues used a 3D body scanner to capture the shape of Price’s face and build a digital model. Then they scanned the costume itself and developed a computer program that allowed them to manipulate the data to create the finished product. For example, they added extra layers of fabric to Price’s chest to give the impression that he was wearing a shirt under his robe. And they gave his hands long fingernails because they found it easier for Price to grip objects while wearing gloves. The final result was a full-body suit that weighed a staggering nine pounds.

Finding the Perfect Voice

Vecna is one of the most terrifying villains ever to grace the small screen. And it’s easy to see why. Not just because of his makeup, but because of the way he sounds.

In an interview on The Tonight show with Jimmy Fallon, director Shawn Levy reveals how he went about finding the perfect, ghastlier voice for the Stranger Things’ new villain.

The director explains that he did a lot of research into the history of horror movies and horror actors. He even reached out to some of the biggest names in the genre, including Doug Bradley, the man behind Pinhead in the iconic franchise Hellraiser.

But it wasn’t enough to simply look up references and ask questions. He had to go beyond that, too. “I actually sat down and I watched every single movie that Doug Bradley had done,” says Levy. “And I listened to every single recording of him.”

Levy says that it took him about a month to piece everything together, mostly thanks to Bower’s dedication to the role and his skill as a vocal performer.

He adds that it takes a village to bring something like Stranger Things to life, and his team included plenty of people who are equally talented at what they do.

“We’ve got amazing visual effects artists,” says Levy. “We’ve got incredible set designers. We’ve got amazing costume designers. And we’ve got amazing production designers.”

Jamie Campbell Bower unveils sinister, Western-esque single I Am

The singer behind Counterfeit. says he wanted to release a song about depression and anxiety “because we’re living in such an exciting time.” He wrote the tune as a reaction to the world around him, following the Brexit vote and Trump’s election win. And while he admits there are elements of “the good old days,” he hopes it offers people hope rather than despair.

He tells NME: “I’m just trying to make music that makes me feel better. If I can do that, then great. Because sometimes, you know, things seem really bleak. And I think that’s what I want to write about. There’s always been this feeling like we’re living in some sort of dystopia, where everything seems to be falling apart. So the idea of making music that makes you feel happier, even if it’s just for five minutes, is important to me.”