Fans have been eagerly awaiting the release of the final two episodes of Stranger Things Season 4.
And just minutes after the final installment dropped at 8:00am UK time (12:00am PT / 3:00am EST) on Friday, Netflix crashed and fans around the world took to social media to share theirs to vent frustration.
Within minutes of Season 4 Part 2’s release on the streaming service, the entire platform was down, returning a message telling subscribers that “this page isn’t working” and instructing others, “Please try again later.” “.
Oh no! Just minutes after the final episode of Stranger Things season 4 dropped on Friday, Netflix crashed and fans around the world took to social media to vent their frustration
The incident is a testament to how excited fans are to find out if Eleven, Mike, Max, Steve and co. can defeat Vecna and finally clear the Eddie name.
The overwhelming influx of fans appears to have pushed Netflix beyond its capacity, prompting thousands of irate subscribers to share news of their tech issues on Twitter.
One fan raged: “I didn’t just count down the seconds like it was New Year’s Eve for Netflix to crash #StrangerThings.”
“Netflix crash? Please let me watch Stranger Things or I’ll cry,” begged another subscriber, while another tweeted, “The power of the Stranger Things fandom to literally crash Netflix…unprecedented.”
Ready! Fans have been eagerly awaiting the release of the final two episodes of Stranger Things Season 4
Frustration: Stranger Things fans took to Twitter to vent their frustration
Season four has already brought many plot twists and surprises – as well as the series’ darkest villain yet: the fearsome infernal demon Vecna, played by British actor Jamie Campbell Bower.
The stunning Season 4 Part 1 finale revealed that Vecna’s true identity was Henry Creel aka Number One, shocking viewers.
And ahead of the release of Season 4 Part 2, acclaimed makeup and visual effects artist Barrie Gower teased what fans can expect from the second part of the season, which will consist of two feature-length episodes.
Upcoming: Fans eagerly awaited the final two episodes of Stranger Things Season 4 on Netflix, which released on Friday
Speaking to Metro.co.uk, Barrie said: “I can’t really say too much without obviously revealing things, but there’s a nod to what we’ve done in the last two episodes [in season four] right at the end of episode seven where we see this story arc of Jamie Campbell Bower as the orderly and at the end of episode seven there’s the big reveal that we find out he’s obviously Vecna.
“So his transformation at the end of this episode as he kind of goes through the Underworld into the Upside Down, that’s a little hint of where we might be taking him in the next few episodes.”
Barrie teased, “Without giving too much away, there’s a lot of Vecna in the last two episodes and there’s some pretty exciting stuff that we’ve been able to do for that.”
Terrifying: Season four has brought many plot twists and surprises – as well as the show’s most sinister villain yet: the fearsome infernal demon Vecna, played by British actor Jamie Campbell Bower
He previously shared the inspiration behind Vecna in a video interview with Vanity Fair, in which he also detailed the painstaking process to bring the Duffer brothers’ directing duo’s vision to life.
Although the show used the latest in CGI and digital effects, Vecna relied on more traditional special effects techniques.
Jamie stunned fans when he revealed that he had to spend more than seven hours every day on set transforming himself into the terrifying monster.
Crafty: Now-acclaimed makeup and visual effects artist Barrie Gower has revealed what fans can expect from the second part of the season, which will consist of two feature-length episodes
That process has now been documented in a fascinating Netflix time-lapse video that gives a little glimpse into the lengthy and laborious techniques used to turn Jamie into Vecna.
In the video, Jamie is seen sitting in a makeup chair for hours while a team of artists carefully attaches the pre-made prosthetics to his face, arms and body.
But according to Barrie, the painstaking process of bringing Vecna to life for the small screen began long before the actor began his transformation.
Speaking to Vanity Fair, the Emmy-winner revealed that Stranger Things producers brothers Matt and Ross Duffer approached him about creating their villain for season four after seeing the work he was doing and his team had done on Game of Thrones – most notably with the HBO series’ The Evil Demon, The Night King.
He added that the Duffer Brothers were also impressed by the radiation burns Barrie et al created for HBO’s Chernobyl and wanted to use those elements for their own “iconic” villain.
Trooper: Jamie stunned fans when he revealed that he had to spend more than seven hours every day on set transforming himself into the terrifying monster
Attention to detail: Jamie took the opportunity to listen to music that helped inspire his character while in the makeup trailer
After artist Michael Mayer, who also runs the VFX department, designed the concept art, the Duffer Brothers and Barrie agreed on their final vision for Vecna - and the special effects artists set about transforming that image into a living one to transform breathing monster.
Barrie recalls, “We were sent these sketches and then we did a live full body cast of actor Jamie Campbell Bower.
“From that point on we had quite an extensive build to actually create the character, which we started with a live full body plaster cast.”
Daily routine: Small holes were poked in the ears so the actor could actually hear through the costume
The team then performed a process called “Floating,” which involved dipping Jamie’s plaster cast into a tank and painting it with a soapy product before sculpting the Vecna detail in wax modeling clay.
The next step was to separate the sculpture from the modeling clay, submerging the entire cast in water overnight.
Barrie explained that the process allowed the water to reactivate the soap product, allowing the plasticine to “float off” and then be carefully removed from the cast in sections.
Iconic: Stranger Things producers Matt and Ross Duffer approached Gower with the goal of developing their own version of Game of Thrones villain The Night King
There were about 25 overlapping prosthetics to create the entire character, which had been injected with materials such as silicone foam latex.
It was decided to use full body makeup rather than create a sweater suit to ensure that the actor’s movements during filming would not create a bulky effect as the costume tightened.
To that end, they used medical-grade silicone gel to make the prosthesis, as it’s soft enough to allow for movement and stretch while being worn by an actor.
The Vecna costume also saw Jamie wearing foam latex finger extensions on his left hand, which had caused staff hands to cramp after minutes of the reveal.
Unrecognizable: Gower joked: ‘There wasn’t anything else we could get on Jamie’
Creepy: The team worked on several gruesome looks for the popular series
However, Barrie gushed about the fact that Jamie never complained about the pain or the time it took to put his costume on each day.
The actor also wore dentures over his own teeth to create Vecna’s rotten look, as well as full scleral lenses.
“That’s all we could do to Jamie,” Barrie joked.
While the Vecna costume was “90 percent practical,” the show used some animation effects to create moving tendrils on the villain’s body.
Aiming high: The Duffer Brothers wanted to create their own iconic villain for the series
As for Vecna’s skin tone, the show has a special makeup palette designed by Premier Product that uses a range of colors inspired by various sea creatures and human bruises.
The first seven episodes of Stranger Things season 4 premiered on May 27, and Volume 2 of the series is scheduled to premiere on July 1.
The eighth episode will last one hour and 25 minutes, while the ninth episode will last almost two and a half hours.
Fans of the series will no doubt hope that the final few episodes will reveal Vecna’s ultimate downfall – having seen Jamie’s human character transformed into the monster in the recently released Volume 1 episodes after being cast by Millie Bobby Brown’s character Eleven in Upside Down was thrown .