What happened to Sadie Sink's Max in 'Stranger Things' Season 5? Patrick Ryan, USA TODAYNovember 28, 2025 at 10:37 PM 0 Spoiler alert! The following story contains major spoilers about Volume 1 of "Stranger Things" Season 5 (now streaming on Netflix). Welcome back, Max Mayfield. After nearly dying at the hands of the villainous Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower), the fan favorite Max (Sadie Sink) has been lying in a coma since the end of "Stranger Things" Season 4.
- - What happened to Sadie Sink's Max in 'Stranger Things' Season 5?
Patrick Ryan, USA TODAYNovember 28, 2025 at 10:37 PM
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Spoiler alert! The following story contains major spoilers about Volume 1 of "Stranger Things" Season 5 (now streaming on Netflix).
Welcome back, Max Mayfield.
After nearly dying at the hands of the villainous Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower), the fan favorite Max (Sadie Sink) has been lying in a coma since the end of "Stranger Things" Season 4. But the headstrong character returned in the final moments of Season 5, Episode 3, after the young Holly Wheeler (Nell Fisher) was abducted by Vecna.
Max reveals to Holly that she, too, is trapped inside Vecna's mind, even as their physical bodies are elsewhere. Meanwhile, Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) has been sitting by Max's side in the hospital, repeatedly playing Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill" in hopes of awaking his on-and-off-again girlfriend from her comatose state.
"Being unconscious, honestly, wasn't a bad gig at the end of the day," Sink recently told Entertainment Weekly. "I just felt bad for everyone who had to carry me around. The one thing that always stuck out to me, even in Season 4, I can't help but look at myself in that hospital state and just laugh because I'm like, 'Of course that's where it ended for Max.' If you would've told me that in Season 2, I wouldn't have believed you."
Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink, left) and Lucas Sinclair (Caleb McLaughlin) in "Stranger Things" Season 5.
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Given that Max and Holly are both lost inside Vecna's prison, the characters are set to spend even more time together as the fifth and final season goes on. Their dynamic feels particularly full circle to Sink, who joined "Stranger Things" at 14 and is now 23. Fisher, meanwhile, turned 14 earlier this month.
"To be the older one in that dynamic was really interesting to explore," Sink told Entertainment Weekly. "What they will explore later on in the season with Max and Holly, and that relationship of them finding allies in each other, it was really interesting to take on – and super unexpected!"
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How does Season 5 connect to 'Stranger Things: The First Shadow' on Broadway?fifth and final season of the Netflix horror series will return Nov. 26 (with subsequent installments on Christmas Day and New Year's Eve). Take a peek at images from the episodes, including Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers.
" style=padding-bottom:56%>"Stranger Things" is almost here! The fifth and final season of the Netflix horror series will return Nov. 26 (with subsequent installments on Christmas Day and New Year's Eve). Take a peek at images from the episodes, including Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers.
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"Stranger Things" is almost here! The fifth and final season of the Netflix horror series will return Nov. 26 (with subsequent installments on Christmas Day and New Year's Eve). Take a peek at images from the episodes, including Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers.
">"Stranger Things" is almost here! The fifth and final season of the Netflix horror series will return Nov. 26 (with subsequent installments on Christmas Day and New Year's Eve). Take a peek at images from the episodes, including Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers.
" src=https://ift.tt/DQei80c class=caas-img>Nell Fisher as Holly Wheeler in "Stranger Things" Season 5. The third Wheeler sibling has been too young to be included in earlier seasons.
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Nell Fisher as Holly Wheeler in "Stranger Things" Season 5. The third Wheeler sibling has been too young to be included in earlier seasons.
">Nell Fisher as Holly Wheeler in "Stranger Things" Season 5. The third Wheeler sibling has been too young to be included in earlier seasons.
" src=https://ift.tt/lMEdGTo class=caas-img>"Terminator" star Linda Hamilton makes her debut as Dr. Kay in "Stranger Things" Season 5.
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"Terminator" star Linda Hamilton makes her debut as Dr. Kay in "Stranger Things" Season 5.
">"Terminator" star Linda Hamilton makes her debut as Dr. Kay in "Stranger Things" Season 5.
" src=https://ift.tt/2YUQ5Mg class=caas-img>Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven and Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler in "Stranger Things" Season 5. Their teen romance will have to endure apocalyptic problems.
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Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven and Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler in "Stranger Things" Season 5. Their teen romance will have to endure apocalyptic problems.
">Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven and Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler in "Stranger Things" Season 5. Their teen romance will have to endure apocalyptic problems.
" src=https://ift.tt/yRzo0mE class=caas-img>Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson and Joe Keery as Steve Harrington in "Stranger Things" Season 5. Everyone's favorite friends will have their own trials and tribulations.
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Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson and Joe Keery as Steve Harrington in "Stranger Things" Season 5. Everyone's favorite friends will have their own trials and tribulations.
">Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson and Joe Keery as Steve Harrington in "Stranger Things" Season 5. Everyone's favorite friends will have their own trials and tribulations.
" src=https://ift.tt/MZQti7n class=caas-img>Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair and Sadie Sink as Max Mayfield in "Stranger Things" Season 5. Max ended Season 4 of the series in a coma caused by villain Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower).
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Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair and Sadie Sink as Max Mayfield in "Stranger Things" Season 5. Max ended Season 4 of the series in a coma caused by villain Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower).
">Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair and Sadie Sink as Max Mayfield in "Stranger Things" Season 5. Max ended Season 4 of the series in a coma caused by villain Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower).
" src=https://ift.tt/oY0Q51R class=caas-img>Priah Ferguson as Erica Sinclair in "Stranger Things" Season 5. Lucas' little sister is a fan favorite.
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Priah Ferguson as Erica Sinclair in "Stranger Things" Season 5. Lucas' little sister is a fan favorite.
">Priah Ferguson as Erica Sinclair in "Stranger Things" Season 5. Lucas' little sister is a fan favorite.
" src=https://ift.tt/6GhjzTW class=caas-img>Noah Schnapp as Will Byers and Jamie Campbell Bower as Vecna in "Stranger Things" Season 5. Will's kidnapping by Vecna into the Upside Down in Season 1 started the whole series of unfortunate events of the show.
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Noah Schnapp as Will Byers and Jamie Campbell Bower as Vecna in "Stranger Things" Season 5. Will's kidnapping by Vecna into the Upside Down in Season 1 started the whole series of unfortunate events of the show.
">Noah Schnapp as Will Byers and Jamie Campbell Bower as Vecna in "Stranger Things" Season 5. Will's kidnapping by Vecna into the Upside Down in Season 1 started the whole series of unfortunate events of the show.
" src=https://ift.tt/rFRf4Y9 class=caas-img>The gang's all here: Joe Keery as Steve Harrington, Natalia Dyer as Nancy Wheeler, Charlie Heaton as Jonathan Byers, Maya Hawke as Robin Buckley, Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler, Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers, Noah Schnapp as Will Byers, Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson, and Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair in "Stranger Things" Season 5.
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The gang's all here: Joe Keery as Steve Harrington, Natalia Dyer as Nancy Wheeler, Charlie Heaton as Jonathan Byers, Maya Hawke as Robin Buckley, Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler, Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers, Noah Schnapp as Will Byers, Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson, and Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair in "Stranger Things" Season 5.
">The gang's all here: Joe Keery as Steve Harrington, Natalia Dyer as Nancy Wheeler, Charlie Heaton as Jonathan Byers, Maya Hawke as Robin Buckley, Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler, Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers, Noah Schnapp as Will Byers, Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson, and Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair in "Stranger Things" Season 5.
" src=https://ift.tt/9CsWv4i class=caas-img>An image from "Stranger Things" Season 5. Things are looking positively like the end of the world in Hawkins, Indiana.
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An image from "Stranger Things" Season 5. Things are looking positively like the end of the world in Hawkins, Indiana.
">An image from "Stranger Things" Season 5. Things are looking positively like the end of the world in Hawkins, Indiana.
" src=https://ift.tt/2efroli class=caas-img>
1 / 10Sneak peek photos from 'Stranger Things' Season 5, including Max Mayfield's fate
"Stranger Things" is almost here! The fifth and final season of the Netflix horror series will return Nov. 26 (with subsequent installments on Christmas Day and New Year's Eve). Take a peek at images from the episodes, including Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers.
Earlier this year, "Stranger Things: The First Shadow" opened on Broadway, telling the story of how a troubled young boy named Henry Creel (Louis McCartney) became the big bad Vecna. The stage show acts as a prequel to the Netflix series, and playwright Kate Trefry teased that "First Shadow" is "essential" viewing before watching the fifth season.
"I'm really excited for Season 5 to finally come out because it's in such conversation with the play," Trefry told USA TODAY earlier this year. "Once people are finally able to consume the series and the play as a whole, they'll be able to appreciate how connected it all is. It's a singular piece of work."
Victor (T.R. Knight, left) Henry (Louis McCartney) and Virginia Creel (Rosie Benton) are in search of a new start as "Stranger Things: The First Shadow" begins.
Watching Episodes 3 and 4, it becomes clear what Trefry meant: After Holly is taken by Vecna, he brings her to his childhood home – the exact same house where Henry and his family live in "First Shadow," which looks like paradise but hides something much darker. Max and Holly also wander the maze of Henry's memories, which includes Hawkins High School circa 1959, where the Broadway play is largely set.
"I had seen the show in London before filming Season 5," Sink told Entertainment Weekly. "So I knew exactly where I was and what it was referring to."
"Stranger Things" Season 5 continues with three more episodes streaming Christmas Day, and the series finale on New Year's Eve.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Stranger Things' Season 5 reveals Max's fate – spoilers
Source: "AOL Entertainment"
Source: Entertainment
Published: November 28, 2025 at 09:45AM on Source: PRIME TIME
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