Here are ten behind the scenes production facts and secrets from Stranger Things four

Stranger Things four was the penultimate season and since it dropped the behind the scenes content has been pouring out. Through interviews, social media and iconic photos, fans of the show finally got a look into some of the biggest production secrets. For example, did you know Sadie Sink laughed in the face of Vecna when she first saw him? Oh and David Harbour actually shaved his head in real time on camera? Here’s a rundown of the biggest behind the scenes secrets from Stranger Things four.

David Harbour shaved his head in real time while filming prison scenes

Chief hair designer Sarah Hindsgaul uploaded a video to Instagram showing the actor who shaved David’s head doing test runs on other men’s heads to prepare for this scene. David Harbour reposted the video saying they “made sure we could shave my real hair cleanly and theatrically efficiently to catch on camera.” David said they only had one shot at filming it.

Millie Bobby Brown was wearing a wig

As we all know, Millie Bobby Brown actually shaved her head for Stranger Things season one in preparation to play Eleven. but now, this time around, he was fitted with an ultra-tight wig. Sarah Hindsgaul posted behind the scenes footage of this process on Instagram. She wrote: “The most important thing is a tight wrap of her own hair so her head shape is as natural as possible with no bulk. For that we wetted her hair down and slicked it with a gel tight to her head placing her hair in a flattering manner. Afterwards her head would be wrapped tightly in an elastic material and we would put her under the head to dry for 15 minutes.” Apparently the hair design team also sewed pieces of silk into the wig which created a fake scalp underneath it – the detail is wild.

Jamie Campbell Bower spent hours in the makeup chair for Vecna

When fans first watched season four, we were convinced Vecna was purely CGI but it turns out Jamie Campbell Bower was underneath the costume. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Jamie said the process took around seven and a half hours.

David Harbour had face prosthetics applied to him

In order to film Hopper surviving the gate explosions at the end of season three, David had face prosthetics. He posted images of the process on his Instagram where he explained he told the Duffer brothers that they should film any flashbacks right at the end of season three’s filming period however nothing had been written then. This was because David knew he was going to “lose the weight and there would be continuity issues.”

Yes, this means David Harbour lost a load of weight in order to portray Hopper realistically.

The sword Hopper used was a real 80s prop

One moment from season four which got fans talking was the time when Hopper slayed a demogorgon using a sword. It turns out the sword was from “Conan the Barbarian” which was an 80s film franchise starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as a hero who carried a sword and shield. According to David Harbour, the propers department got hold of the exact sword used in the movies.

Robert Englund’s audition tape was filmed in a bathtub

The Duffer brothers originally didn’t reach out to Robert Englund to play Victor Creel in season four because they didn’t think he’d do it. However Robert ended up sending his own tape in. He was in a bath whilst saying his lines. Ross Duffer said they were “jumping” when they realised he had auditioned.

Sadie Sink couldn’t stop laughing when she was Vecna for the first time

This makes a huge change compared to Millie Bobby Brown who apparently couldn’t stop crying. Sadie Sink, who plays Max, told Vulture she burst into laughter when she saw him for the first time. She said: “I started laughing uncontrollably. Just total laughter. I didn’t know what I was looking at, you know? I was scared, but fascinated, and feeling such a weird array of emotions that it just came out as laughter.”

Jamie Campbell Bower crossed out the eyes of Vecna’s victims and stare at them

Jamie, who plays Vecna in Stranger Things four, told People that he would take photographs of each victim, print them off and cross out their eyes. He also said he’d put them up on his wall and stare at them.

The conversation between Jonathan and Will was written at the last minute

In an interview with Variety, Noah Schnapp said the conversation between Will and Jonathan wasn’t part of the original script. He said: “It was only until after I did the scene of me in the van, where they saw me crying and the protectiveness that you see with Jonathan looking in the rearview mirror. They were like, we need a scene with that. So they wrote it as we were filming.”

The show was meant to be eight regular length episodes

While speaking about season five with Collider, the Duffer brothers revealed that the final season will be shorter than season four but also season four was initially meant to be a regular eight-episode season.

Stranger Things is available on Netflix now. For all the latest Netflix news, drops, quizzes and memes like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook. 

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