Nothing could have prepared viewers for the fate of Max Mayfield at the end of Stranger Things Season 4. Though it was known she was marked out by Vecna, she managed to dodge the bullet so cleanly and cleverly that when she was finally horribly hurt, it was still shocking to see. The character ended up in a coma with Lucas reading to her as the Season ended, and her fate remains unknown, but with Stranger Things Season 5 just around the corner, fans are anxiously speculating once again what’s in store for her.
Stranger Things Season 5 is set to release sometime in 2025, with the most likely time looking to be in the Fall, probably November, provided all goes well. A recent rumour suggests that Netflix might release the final Season in three parts, starting as early as October 2025, even, progressing through November, and then concluding in early January. Considering May Hawkes commented by saying that each episode of the 8-episode Season is like a full-length movie, that schedule may actually be pretty solid to give fans time to consider, speculate, and amp up that hype, but it does mean Max’s fate may take a little bit longer to work out.
Running Up That Hill
Max’s love of the Kate Bush song, Running Up That Hill, means that the song hit number one in the charts 37 years after its release, but is there some significance to the lyrics that go deeper than being contextually appropriate for the late 80s?
‘They love having me run,’ Sadie Sink, who plays Max, explains to Variety in an interview. Considering Max’s emotional battle with her grief over her brother’s death in the last Season, as well as her rocky relationship with Lucas, the theme of running for this character is complex and fascinating.
Trapped now in a way where she physically cannot run, it will be interesting to see how the Duffer Brothers intend to explore this theme further with this character in the coming Season. Max is essentially on her own in a Limbo-like space, but how aware is she of that? Season 4 left that purposefully ambiguous, and the community is abuzz about what Max’s experiences will look like, particularly considering the time skip element presented to account for the aging actors in Stranger Things Season 5.
She’s a Survivor
‘She’s going to play a part in the Season,’ Matt Duffer assured Variety, though he failed to elaborate on how, due to the mysterious nature of her coma and not wanting to spoil the imaginations of the fans as they wait for the final exciting reveal. Max’s character is much beloved, and a lot of people want to see her survive her ordeal, though what that will look like for her, considering that she was left blind by Vecna’s attack, is also open to interpretation.
Will that blindness become a permanent thing? And will that create a new ordeal for Max to try and run from? So far, Stranger Things has found inventive ways around the idea of seemingly permanent problems, as with El and her powers returning throughout Season 4. Usually, altering or reversing a tragedy will come at great personal growth, so perhaps there is something big on the table for Max after all.
An Emotional Impact
The hints about Max’s impact on Stranger Things Season 5 have been few and far between, but the Duffer brothers do say this, which is quite encouraging for how much screen time Sadie Sink will receive in the upcoming Season: ‘We did film a scene with her the other day that was absolutely heartbreaking. I don’t know how she hits those notes.’ The implication of an emotional scene for this character isn’t surprising. Max must be panicked and confused about where she is, but with El currently unable to reach her, the question of where that is exactly is a fascinating one.
Sadie herself does elaborate a little on just how much she’s involved in Stranger Things Season 5, indicating the grueling filming schedule and how she’ll have lots of downtime in one moment, then will have to work very hard in intense spurts the next. She says: ‘I forgot how hard this show is’ after a full week of working, but at the end of the day, all the actors have to push through whatever fatigue they might be feeling for the good of the show and surely, the finished product will be something to remember, as many of the cast members have previously hinted.
A Raw Portrayal
The Variety interview zeroes in on how Sadie portrays raw emotions for the characters she plays, often pitting characters head-on against the very thing that causes dread and anxiety. Max has been shown to be headstrong before, though she is contrastingly avoidant in certain situations to preserve her independence in a spectacularly nuanced development of this character. It does beg the question of whether or not Max will ask for help where she is or if she will be forced to tackle her situation head-on and find her own solution, as she did with the Kate Bush song the first time she was almost murdered by Vecna.
Will It Be A Happy Ending?
It’s almost impossible to tell what sort of ending is in store for Max Mayfield as Stranger Things Season 5 draws the beloved show to a close. Finn Wolfhard has previously stipulated that the ending for Mike Wheeler is satisfying, but that he was also confused and sad about it, which implies that things don’t exactly go back to normal for the leader of the D&D gang. This makes sense. Stranger Things Season 5 is set to take place primarily in Hawkins and the Upside Down to take the show back to its roots, and the Duffer Brothers have confirmed that Season 5 will: ‘be like Season 1 – but on steroids.’
Considering the ending of Season 1 was mostly positive, that does give hope for a happy ending, but there were a few real-world outliers that none of the characters could escape, such as Barb’s tragic death. This respect of real world consewuences will most likely continue on strong until the end of the series so it’s a case of watching this space to see who will be lucky enough to come out with a good ending, and who, like Barb and Billy and Alexei, might end up with the worst possible ending of all.
