One of the characters who’s been going through a lot during Stranger Things is Sadie Sink’s Max Mayfield. Between the death of her stepbrother, her mother’s marriage breaking down, breaking up with her boyfriend, losing her best friend, and having a curse placed on her, there’s a lot on Max’s plate. Sink, now 20, discussed what Max was going through with Variety, how she got into that headspace, and her relationships with other characters.

According to Sink, much of the season had to deal with internal thoughts, specifically those eating away at you. The ones you don’t share with anyone. So how do you prepare for that? Well, what Sink did to get into Max’s headspace was journal here and there, writing entries as her. Though it wasn’t planned, the lockdown also helped get Sink into the mindset.

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Season 4 of Stranger Things, incidentally, also showcased more of Max’s relationship with her mom. Though the characters are still living together, there’s a noticeable level of disconnect as well. Max’s mom has taken up drinking after the marriage to her second husband ended up breaking down. According to Sink, she thinks it’s heartbreaking when you see the state that her mom is in and how absent she is through all of this.

Max Still Feels Guilt Over Billy’s Death

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One of the things weighing on Max is the death of her older stepbrother Billy (Dacre Montgomery). Notably, the two didn’t have a very good brother-sister relationship. Billy was a bully, a misogynist, and caused a lot of pain in Max’s life for a long time. He did sacrifice his life to save Max and her friends, but was there anything beyond that?

Sink also said this about Max:

All of this makes Max prey to Vecna, who preys upon people’s past trauma and guilt. Realizing that there’s a good chance that she’s not going to make it, Max writes each of her loved ones a letter to be read in the event of her death. Sink says that while she has an idea of what Max would want to say to each person, she would love to see what was inside those letters.

Of course, before season 5 happens, there are still two more episodes of season 4. Both episodes, “Papa” and “The Piggyback,” will have a feature-length running time, as all the episodes in season 4 have had. They’re both scheduled to be released on July 1st. You can watch the teaser trailer for both episodes now.