Spoilers for Stranger Things Season 4 Ahead!

The fourth season of Stranger Things saw the terrifying Vecna torment the children of Hawkins. The monstrous version of Henry Creel made a trio of teens face their past trauma before brutally killing them, and his final victim was set to be none other than Max Mayfield. Max spent the majority of the season trying to escape Vecna but served as bait for the plan to kill the creature in the season finale. While Vecna was severely injured by Steve, Nancy, and Robin, he was still able to kill Max, opening the final gate that was needed for the Upside Down to spill out into Hawkins.

Because Eleven was battling Vecna in Max’s mind, she was able to bring her friend back to life, albeit in a coma. Max closes out season four in a hospital bed, with Eleven unable to find her in the void when trying to go back inside her head to wake her up. Even though it’s an ambiguous end to Max’s story, she is technically alive heading into Season 5, which wasn’t always the case. As co-creator Ross Duffer revealed on a recent Stranger Things After Show, Max was originally part of the season four body count:

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Ross’ brother and fellow Stranger Things co-creator Matt Duffer added the second-to-last season of the series was intended to emulate The Empire Strikes Back in how the characters came out of their first fight with Vecna:

“It was discussed as a possibility. 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. 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.”

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“We wanted them to actually lose. We wanted our characters to experience what that felt like. That was the big idea coming into season four, that they were going to lose. We were going to introduce Vecna and they were going to lose to him. That sets our characters up for what will be the ultimate final confrontation with Vecna and with the Upside Down in season five.”

Max’s Story Isn’t Finished Quite Yet

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The finale of season four is certainly bleak, especially regarding how Max ended her story. After witnessing the sacrifice of her step-brother in season three, Max was dealing with a variety of complex feelings about Billy’s role in her life. Sadie Sink delivers an incredible performance throughout the season, exploring Max’s relationship with her friends, her family, and even with Vecna. Given how much of the Season 4 spotlight was put on Sink, it could’ve served as a grand send-off to Max, but the Duffers clearly have more they want to do with the character in season five. Since the fifth season will feature a time jump, hopefully Max has woken from her coma to join her friends in the battle for Hawkins.

The Duffers have not yet begun the writing process for season five, recently saying that the writer’s room is set to begin in the first week of August. The final season of Stranger Things isn’t expected to be as long as its predecessor, with the Duffers planning for about eight episodes totaling around 10 hours. Season 5 isn’t expected to begin filming until 2023, with a 2024 premiere likely following the post-production process. The first four seasons of Stranger Things are currently streaming in their entirety on Netflix.