Does Sadie Sink's Max Mayfield Die In Stranger Things?

The final season of "Stranger Things" will see the return of many familiar and beloved faces. In the Duffer Brothers' fond farewell to the show, the heroes of Hawkins will be going one last round with the villain who plagued their town for years, even before they knew he existed. However, it's currently unclear how Max Mayfield (future "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" star Sadie Sink, who joined the series in season 2) will factor into the equation.

Of all the characters who have fought against the terrors of the Upside Down, Max has perhaps endured some of the toughest challenges. Not only did she lose her brother Billy (Dacre Montgomery) when he became corrupted by the nightmarish realm's powers, but she also dared to take on Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower), the realm's monstrous ruler, directly, leaving her down for the count until further notice (if not permanently).

Indeed, while Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn) was rocking out in his last stand in "Stranger Things" season 4, Max was taking a severe hit that rocked the show's other heroes to their core. But what does it mean for the series' final showdown? How will they carry on without one of their group's greatest members, and will they have enough to push back one last time against their most powerful foe and ensure the Upside Down stays where it is for good? Well, before we even get to that, let's clear up a few things about Max, preferably to the tune of "Running Up That Hill."

The penultimate season of "Stranger Things" seemed to go full "Empire Strikes Back" in its final episodes (which premiered an unthinkable three years ago), with Max seemingly becoming the Han Solo of the show. After learning about the history of their adversary, Vecna (previously known as Victor Creel), Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) and her pals dared to venture onto his territory, with Max acting as bait to lure him out and interrupt his notorious four-phase plan of opening four portals from the Upside Down. Turning off the aforementioned Kate Bush song (which helps protect her from Vecna), the skateboarding legend exposed herself to the monster she'd only narrowly escaped before. It's an act that only Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) was there to protect her from in the best way he could, but that wasn't enough to prevent the horrific and excruciating ordeal she was forced to go through.

Her efforts in the battle against Vecna came at a brutal cost, too. Upon transporting Max's mind into a twisted take on the Snow Ball from season 2, the veiny villain did his thing and took hold of her mentally, causing her physical body to rise and snap out of place like Vecna's other victims before her. It was only thanks to Eleven coming to her rescue that she was able to break free from Creel's grip, but not before being severely damaged by the encounter (something her super-powered friend couldn't protect her from).

We can confirm that, yes, Max Mayfield did die in the fourth season of "Stranger Things," but only for a minute. Slipping away to the tune of Moby's "When It's Cold I Like To Die" (way to kick us when we're down, Duffers), Max whispered in terror to Lucas that she couldn't see, seemingly blinded by Vecna's actions before dying in his arms. Thankfully, El was able to work her magic just enough to ensure her friend didn't pass away for good.

In a last-ditch effort, Eleven showed Max all of their fondest memories together and that her existence was still worth fighting for, bringing her back to life but sadly, leaving her in a comatose state. As it stands, Max is still definitely alive, but she's also tragically still stuck in a limbo that Eleven can't pull her back from. In the final moments of season 4 (as the Upside Down begins bleeding out across Hawkins), we saw her in a hospital bed with Lucas by her side, reading to her (more on that later), before the rest of her friends come to visit.

The season 4 finale made no effort to suggest Max was going to snap out of whatever state she's in, and no one involved in the final season, including Sink herself, has shared details on when or even if Max will be back fighting fit for season 5. The good news, however, is that she'll definitely be back; we just don't know how and what condition she'll be in when she returns.

It's been officially confirmed that Sadie Sink will most certainly be returning for "Stranger Things" season 5, with the star having even talked about the final day of shooting one of the most popular television shows in recent memory. Naturally, as with the lead-up to every season, story information is being kept hidden (like a secret military bunker), and that includes how Max will recover from the fairly rough state we left her in.

What has been confirmed so far is that Max will be very active upon her return, thanks to a carefully worded comment from Sink herself. Speaking in a 2024 interview, the "Stranger Things" actor hinted at the type of work the Duffer Brothers are having her do in the show's last lap: "They love having me run. That's all I'll say."

While Sink's hint indeed assures us that Max will be up and about on her feet in some sense, the question still remains if she'll actually be leaving her hospital bed in season 5. Let's not forget this is a show with more than one dimension, and it's just as plausible that Max will be running up yet another hill to the tune of her favorite anthem, albeit only in her mind or in another realm outside of her physical form. How could that happen, you ask? The answer could be linked to a lesser-known Stephen King story that explores multiple worlds, much like "Stranger Things" does.

In a show that pays homage to just about anything in 1980s popular culture, it makes perfect sense that the answer to Max making a comeback would lie in the pages of a Stephen King book. When we see Lucas tending to his high school sweetheart, we can see that he's reading King's 1984 novel "The Talisman." Now, admittedly, there are two ways of looking at this page-turner. Firstly, it's worth noting that this is one of the few King stories that hasn't been properly adapted for the screen, having only been brought to life as a short film in 2008. In 2021, however, it was announced that the Duffer Brothers were working with Netflix to turn "The Talisman" into a series, suggesting this could simply be a nod to the duo's future project.

That being said, it's worth noting that "The Talisman" tells the story of a young boy who learns about parallel dimensions and tries to retrieve the titular trinket to save his mother, who is dying from cancer. These other dimensions, known as "Territories," are occasionally inhabited by "Twinners," which are essentially doppelgängers of people from neighboring territories. A Twinner can inhabit their other self in the neighboring world, thereby traveling between dimensions. Given that the Upside Down is an alternate dimension, could Max be lost in another point in time of the twisted territory, or could another version of her be waiting to jump back to this one? We won't have long to find out, given that "Stranger Things" finally returns to Netflix on November 26, 2025.