Stranger Things season 4 volume 2 premieres its grand finale July 1 on Netflix, and the trailers have made it clear that things will never be the same in Hawkins. With Vecna being revealed as Henry Creel (played by Jamie Campbell Bower), the first child to ever be experimented on at Hawkins Lab, the upcoming showdown is all the more terrifying because it's all the more human.
Volume 1 of Stranger Things season 4 boasted the distinction of casting 80s horror icon Robert Englund, known for hits such as A Nightmare On Elm Street and Freddy vs. Jason. Englund played Henry's father Victor Creel, who was originally accused of and imprisoned for the murder of his family, but steadfastly proclaimed a demon did it. Now that the kids know the truth, will Eleven and her friends be able to stop Vecna before it's too late?
Screen Rant spoke to Englund about how he ended up playing Creel on Stranger Things season 4, how much he's loved the series from the start, and his personal philosophy on actors in the audition room.
Screen Rant: First of all, it is an honor to speak with you. This is amazing. I wish we were in person.
Robert Englund: I do too, because I'm such a techno weenie. I've had to take my wife's entire day up here just to get these Zooms going.
I also have to say happy birthday.
Robert Englund: Oh, yes. I think this is the last one we celebrate. 75, oh my gosh! People ask you what it's like, "Well, I've never been 75 before." All I can think of doing is making doctor's appointments for the next month. What's this thing on my toenail? What is that?
Well, congrats on appearing on Stranger Things. That was such a cool thing for fans. When did you become aware that Stranger Things had this cultural impact that was going on?
Robert Englund: I've been watching since the get-go. I was not a Johnny Come Lately to it. I watched it, and I forget why, probably because I'd heard about it.
I just watched it on Netflix and I immediately became a huge fan of Millie Bobby Brown. I was at a big convention shortly after the show began, and the show was ascending. Very early on in her career, I was introduced to Millie and her mother, and I had no idea she was English. She opened her mouth, and it was like talking to a young Julie Andrews. I wanted her to know that I thought her maturity, and her work in silence, and that her listening was such strong acting work. I thought she had a huge future ahead of her. She was so talented. I wanted her to know that the camera loved her.
And then I told her something - I had just been in London, and I told her the most inappropriate thing for her to see. I was addressing her as this equal, this really talented young actress, and I thought she might want to see this movie with Scarlett Johansson; this little independent, dark sci-fi horror film where Scarlett Johansson played an alien. In that film, they use a sequence with Scarlet walking over the black glass with liquid on it, just like Millie Bobby Brown does in the first season of Stranger Things, and I thought she would like to see the source of that. And she said she was gonna see it, her mom wrote it down; [Under The Skin]. I walked away and we were both signing autographs, and then I realized, "Oh my god, Scarlett Johansson is naked in that sequence." I thought, "Here I've told a 12-year-old girl to go look at a scene with full nudity in it. Oh, no!" But I realized she's so mature and such a smart kid that I didn't lose too much sleep over it.
But it's that brilliant effect that we see Millie in, where she's walking over that sea; that liquid black glassy surface, like walking on water. The first time I've seen that effect was in this Scarlett Johansson film where she played the alien killer, pretending to be a humanoid. But anyway, so that was my introduction to Stranger Things.
Then, I really fell in love with David Harbour's work on the show as well. And, for all intents and purposes - speaking of Scarlett Johansson - he steals the show in Black Widow. He's wonderful in that too. But I really like what a rough-edged, chain-smoking, profane edginess he brought to his character. The local cop, a very original type. So, I've been on board with Stranger Things for a long time and love the show, and had wanted to be part of it, and I'm so honored to finally have been able to work on this show and have it be a great success as well.
How long was that in the works? Have you been approached for previous seasons?
Robert Englund: I was up for a role in season 3 and either I didn't have a good audition, or I was wrong for the part, or they went younger or whatever. I was a little disappointed, because I just love the show. And then I was contacted for season 4, and I needed to audition. Sometimes they just want to see how old you are now and stuff.
But I realized that I played several roles in recent years where I sort of tell the backstory; the exposition. I'd done it as a priest in a film, and I'd done it as an old guy that runs a gun shop, and I'd done it as a scientist and a doctor. So, I know how important that is. It's a role that you see a lot in horror movies and science fiction movies. I realized I had to tell the story; that Victor Creel tells the story of what happened in his home to his family that is setting up Henry, his son, who becomes 001 to Eleven - and is also Vecna. It's transformative of the series and it leads you into season 5.
Victor is responsible for telling the tale, so I was really excited. But when I did the audition, I didn't have makeup. We hadn't done the makeup test yet. I hadn't met Barrie Gower or Duncan Jarman, [I] hadn't met the great makeup effects guys from Game of Thrones that were going to do my makeup. I was just alone in my bathtub, and my downstairs guest bathroom is all white, so I just jammed in the corner with the white tile. I put a bathrobe on, so the bathrobe would be white, and my wife sat on the toilet seat and filmed me with her smartphone. I wanted the Duffer Brothers and Shawn Levy and the casting people to see that I wanted to tell the tale, but I wanted to tell it emotionally - because for Victor to remember it is very painful - and I got the part.
I was in London when I met the two makeup effects boys, I met Barrie and Duncan in London, and we did a test. Between the time I shot it and the makeup test, in my mind's eye while I was learning the lines, I knew what I was going to look like on camera. I knew what the makeup would look like. I knew those two guys had my back, and I was a fan of Maya Hawke. I knew Maya had my back because she was going to be in the scene with me playing Robin, and [I'm a] great fan of Shawn Levy. I know he was on Real Steel, which is one of my favorite underrated movies. And now, I'm a huge fan of Free Guy, among other things that Shawn has done. I knew I was gonna be protected.
I can't believe you had to audition. You're Robert Englund!
Robert Englund: Well, I think [not] everybody's seen my last movie. It might be a movie I did in Italy or Spain, or it might be a little movie I did with Lin Shaye up in Canada... But those are my most recent movies where I look like I look now, and not everybody's seen them. Sometimes they literally just want to see, because I know when I've been casting myself, a lot of times, it's all about what you look like when you come through the door. If you're how we imagine that character, or you're close to that, or you bring something to that before you even get to read.
Because there's some really great actors out there that are lousy in the office. I've known actors since the early '70s that are bad auditions, but they're great once they get the part. I'm talking a couple of big stars, too; really big stars that I've worked with that can't read. They're just lousy at reading. But once they get it on their feet, they're magic, and you tend to forget that. I think even casting people tend to forget that too. You have to remember, actors are used to acting with actors. When you audition, you're reading with a secretary you're acting with a secretary.
I think if the if the acting union was really smart, they would make sure that all casting departments hire an actor part-time for scale, to just have sitting around to read with other actors, because actors understand differently. I've taken pauses before at really important auditions. I've taken a pause, just to take a pause, because there needed to be a pause - and I've had the person I was reading with give me my line. Because they are looking at the script, and they hear the pause, and they look up and they think that I forgot my line. That ruins your audition, and it's the most vulnerable moment of your life as an actor. You're in an office, you long for this role; you're reading, you've prepared it at home, you've worked on it. And now you're reading with a non-actor - not a bad person, but it's not the same for us. It's just not the same. Actors know when we change it up a little bit, or we throw in an extra line, or we take a pause, or we get up to move, and they don't jump in to help us. We don't want help.
Who did you almost play in season 3? Do you know who that was?
Robert Englund: I think I was up for the mayor, and they went with a great actor. An actor I know and love, Cary Elwes. Completely different. Believe me. If you want the handsome, beautiful Cary Elwes, you never had Robert Englund in your head at all for the role.
But I think maybe at one time, they didn't know whether to go young or old. I know when I got there, they told me to play it like the mayor in Jaws, which is almost like a corrupt used car salesman, the guy in a plaid jacket, that kind of guy, kind of corrupted. Obviously, they wanted to kind of go with 80s power tie, beautiful, young, a power tie lawyer type that they did with Cary, and it made much more sense.
Cary is a wonderful actor and got a lot of laughs doing it. Cary, also, I think he's supposed to be having a love affair and have a mistress and... I do not [laughs]. I'm not the guy. I'm way too old to be the guy having lots of mistresses
I'm glad you're in this season though, because this is the Nightmare on Elm Street season.
Robert Englund: Yeah, it was a much better fit. And also, thematically it gives the episode and the season a little bit of a wink. But it's strange, because there's a lot of visual references and actual references to Freddy Krueger and to Nightmare on Elm Street, but many other movies, too, Amityville Horror and The Goonies and all sorts of other stuff.
But Victor, actually, is not. The opening of my sequence is almost Silence of the Lambs. Victor is very different than Hannibal Lecter, and also, he's not at all like Freddy. But it is the actor who plays Freddy Krueger doing makeup again. Robert Englund was a big star in the 80s, and the [show] is 80s nostalgia. So, that's part of the wink as well. I don't think the character is, though.
There was that “scratches on the desk” moment.
Robert Englund: That's not in the script, and it threw me a little bit. Because it was hard to do; to sell it. But I see what Shawn did there. Shawn is very clever. And what Shawn Levy did there was, at the very beginning of the scene, you see that - and that's your wink. That's your nod to the audience. That's my entrance. And once we do that, then I can do what I need to do.
We've seen what happens with Freddy vs. Jason, what would happen with Vecna vs Freddy?
Robert Englund: Vecna vs. Freddy. I guess, when you see him hanging there, suspended a feeding Vecna sleeping, or napping or getting replenished. If Freddy could get into his subconscious there, maybe I could get to him. Maybe I could. I could cause him to self-destroy.
But I'll tell you, man, I wouldn't want to go up against those bats. Freddy could spear five of them, and then it would be all over.
Stranger Things Season 4 Synopsis
It's been six months since the Battle of Starcourt, which brought terror and destruction to Hawkins. Struggling with the aftermath, our group of friends are separated for the first time – and navigating the complexities of high school hasn't made things any easier.
Check out our interviews with Stranger Things stars Noah Schnapp, Charlie Heaton & Eduardo Franco as well as Caleb McLaughlin, Gaten Matarazzo, Sadie Sink & Priah Ferguson and Joseph Quinn.
The second volume of Stranger Things season 4 premieres July 1 on Netflix.