Sadie Sink talks Max’s “wild” journey on Stranger Things

Sadie Sink didn’t join Netflix’s Stranger Things as Max Mayfield until season 2, but she made an instant impact, quickly becoming a fan favorite. Max has been on as challenging journey, from fighting otherworldly monsters to losing her brother Billy to dealing with Vecna in the most recent season.

Recently, Sink spoke with W Magazine about her time on the show, weighing in on Max’s emotional rollercoaster of a journey. She also revealed some cool behind-the-scenes titbits.

Apparently, creators Matt and Ross Duffer originally planned to kill Max for good in season 4. Yikes. “They never really tell us what’s going to happen until we get the scripts, and when I got the script for episode 9, it said that Max dies but that she sort of comes back,” Sink explained. “It’s uncertain, but she’s not fully dead. I didn’t know the plan was to completely kill me off, which definitely would’ve been a very impactful ending.”

By the end of the season, Vecna kills Max after taking over her mind, but Eleven ultimately uses her powers to bring her back to life, although she remains comatose. Sink was very surprised by how Max’s story concluded this season. “Season 4 was a wild journey for her. I definitely knew nothing good would happen, but I was not expecting this—this was a crazy, crazy end. I thought either she was going to succeed in a really epic way, or it would be her downfall, and I guess we landed somewhere in the middle.”

Stranger Things 4 has tons of brilliant moments, but the scene in episode 4, “Dear Billy,” when Max escapes Vecna’s control by listening to her favorite song — Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” — takes the top spot. It’s so epic and emotional that it made “Running Up That Hill” a bestseller again, decades after release:

Of course, since the show is set in the ’80s, Max is always rocking the iconic Walkman. Turns out, they had a lot of units on set because they kept breaking. “They had probably a dozen for me, but there wouldn’t always be music playing,” Sink said. “And they’re pretty poor quality, so the music was very faint and muddled. I think I broke three or four Walkmans throughout the filming process.”

"I started breaking them so much that they made me a Styrofoam one. It was fake, and it was essential."

Walkmans are a relic of the past and pretty brittle, so we’ll let her off with breaking them.

When can we expect Stranger Things season 5? 

We know from previous seasons of Stranger Things that the turnaround between seasons can be pretty long. The time between seasons 3 and 4 was made even more lengthy thanks to the pandemic. As for season 5…well, Sink isn’t expecting to begin filming anytime soon:

"With it being the final season, I don’t think they’re going to rush it. They want to make it perfect and have the most epic ending to the most epic journey ever. Hopefully it’ll be a shorter turnaround than the season 3 to season 4 gap. I’m really excited to get back to work. I trust Matt and Ross [Duffer] so much, so wherever they want to take my character, I’ll be there."

Stranger Things season 4 is currently streaming on Netflix. The fifth and final season is still in development, so expect to see it drop at some point in the next few years.

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