Producers confirm that ‘Stranger Things’ lead was originally meant to die
(Credit: Netflix)

Must Watch Series

Producers confirm that 'Stranger Things' lead was originally meant to die

As the dust settles on Stranger Things season four, it’s time to take stock on who we lost and who still survives. Sadly, to the disappointment of much of the internet and probably Doja Cat, beloved metalhead Eddie Munson sacrificed himself for the good of the town, even though it doesn’t appear to have had much of an effect. All the other main characters are still breathing, but some got out better than others.

The still-alive character with the worst post-Vecna fate has to be Max Mayfield. After spending an entire season being tormented by the villainous being, Max used herself as bait to lure Vecna and paid an awful price. It sure seems as though Max is blind, crippled, and comatose during the end of the final episode, but she’s still technically alive. According to series creators The Duffer Brothers, however, the original plan was for Max to fully sacrifice herself.

​​“It was discussed as a possibility,” Ross Duffer said during the Stranger Things aftershow. “For a while, that is what was going to happen. But we ended up in this… we wanted to end it with a little more of a question at the end of the season, where it’s still really dark and if Max is going to be okay… we just don’t really know. We wanted to leave it up in the air moving forward into season five.”

Matt Duffer insisted that the duo have a plan for what to do with the now-incapacitated Max come season five, describing her role as “incredibly relevant”, adding that Max will have “a major effect on [season] five.”

However, Max’s actor, Sadie Sink, doesn’t seem to be clued into what’s happening to her character. At least if she does know, she’s not spilling just yet. ​​“I just hope that she’s able to do anything, I guess,” Sink said. “Yeah, I have no clue what is going on just with her in general… Hopefully, she’s out of the hospital… out of the full body cast, that would be great.”


Her fellow actors seemed to be equally in the dark about the ultimate fate of Max. That means that either The Duffer Brothers have kept the details of the final season of Stranger Things under wraps or the actors are doing a solid job of keeping things mum for the time being. There’s still no exact timetable for when we’ll be able to see Stranger Things 5, but unless there’s another global pandemic, hopefully, it will end up being sooner rather than later.