The origins of the Infected on HBO’sThe Last of Usgoes back toChernobyl.
The show, not the nuclear disaster.
Gower’s successes go even further back.
Barrie Gower, make-up artist extraordinaire, discusses his work on ‘Game of Thrones,’ ‘Stranger Things,’ ‘The Last of Us,’ and more.HBO / Netflix / Everett Collection
He has four Emmy wins under his belt fromGame of ThronesandStranger Things.
And then there was a press release about six months later," Gower tells EW.
“We looked at lots of different organic shapes for veins.
A Clicker screeches on HBO’s ‘The Last of Us’.HBO
We looked at things like worm larvae burrowing under the skin.
Above Runners are Clickers.
The more a victim is stricken with the cordyceps infection, the more the fungi mutates the body.
Jamie Campbell Bower as Vecna in ‘Stranger Things’ season 4.Steve Dietl/Netflix
The Clicker is forced to use its titular clicking sounds as a form of echolocation to find prey.
Gower’s team wanted to give Clickers their own distinctions.
It could also be a seasonal change.
The titular Green Knight of the 2021 David Lowery film.Eric Zachanowich / A24 Films
The more desaturated the Clicker looks, the more stark their home environment.
So there’s probably a lot of traits, shapes and forms that are quite similar.”
So they had a clearer idea of what was needed.
The Night King in ‘Game of Thrones’.HBO
Gower looked to vines and similar shapes when thinking about how the Upside Down overtakes Vecna’s form.
“It was probably a month or so later that they cast Jamie Campbell Bower.
“The majority of our makeups are made out of silicone rubber.
But Ineson also had armor he wore on top of the prosthetics from the costume department.
“It was quite a process and an ordeal for him,” Gower remarks.
It’s a creation that’s brought up often by his peers in the industry.
Gower’s team came aboardThronesin season 4.
Brake was later replaced byVladimir Furdik, a primary stunt performer on the show.
“We worked very closely with the showrunners [David Benioff and D.B.
Weiss] and we had a brief,” he recalls.
“We had texts from George R.R.
Martin’s books as a description of how the Night King should look.
We worked with [Swindell] on having this regal crown of icicles growing out of his head.”
Gower is still floored by the impact the Night King has had since those days onThrones.
