Three years of hype, anticipation, and emotional cliffhangers later, ‘Stranger Things‘ has finally come back with Season 5 Volume 1, and with it came one of the darkest character journeys the show has ever tried to undertake. Amid the chaos of Vecna’s tightening grip on Hawkins and the multiverse-like unraveling of the Upside Down, Max Mayfield emerges as a surprising emotional anchor.
However, she is also among the most damaged, lonely, and transformed characters the show has ever depicted. As Volume 2 is yet to be released in December 2025, the future of Max is still uncertain. Yet Sadie Sink’s remarks shed some light on why her storyline is one of the most chilling of Season 5.
‘Stranger Things 5’ Pushes Max To The Edge
Sadie Sink, who plays Max, recently shared her traumatizing experience of shooting this season. And her thoughts show a side of Max that has never been seen before. At the end of Season 4, Max was lying in pieces, and her mind was lost into psychic oblivion. Season 5 does not waste time in telling the truth. Her consciousness has been confined to the Upside Down, where it has to traverse its nightmarish landscape on its own.
Related: 15 Best ‘Stranger Things’ Characters, Ranked
And, as Sadie Sink says, playing this version of Max meant she had to lose all that she knew about the character. “In previous seasons, there was always something to anchor me to Max,” she told The Hollywood Reporter. “Her friends, her room, her skateboard, her music, something. This season, there was nothing.” To a character who has been characterized by silent strength, her Walkman, her stoic facade, and her stinging wit, the loss of these stabilizing factors is shattering.
Sink described the new Max as “in a rough, feral state,” with tangled hair, grime-covered clothing, and a haunted sense of displacement. She is no longer physically lost, but psychologically wandering. It’s Max who is nearly animalistic, a person who has been confined in a world that has been created to destroy her. Her humanity is hanging by a thread. Sink said it was “bizarre” to feel like Max internally while looking completely unrecognizable on the outside.
The emotional impact is heightened when Max runs into Holly Wheeler. Their relationship turns out to be a lifeline, not only to Holly but to Max herself. “I know how Max responds to Lucas or Will or Eleven,” Sink explained. “But to a 12-year-old girl? I didn’t know what that was like.” Season 5 might be the most depressing for her character, yet it is also the one that makes the viewers remember why Max was such a bright spot in the first place. “I’m so happy with the way it ends,” she said, adding that she’s not ready to truly say goodbye to Max. “I don’t think I ever will.”
Millie Bobby Brown Sparks Debate With Her Bold ‘Stranger Things’ Ranking
While Max’s storyline dominates the emotional center of Volume 1, the cast has also been busy looking back on the show’s legacy. And Millie Bobby Brown stirred up quite the online firestorm with her personal ranking of the ‘Stranger Things’ seasons. In a Vanity Fair interview with her co-stars, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Sadie Sink, Finn Wolfhard, and Noah Schnapp, Brown was asked to rank all five seasons.
In case you missed it: How ‘Stranger Things 5’ Vol. 1 Marks The Beginning Of The End For Hawkins Family
Her list turned heads. She ranked Season 1 as the best, then Season 5, followed by 3,4, and 2. Brown said that Season 1 was her favorite due to the nostalgia surrounding it. It was her first major role. However, she pointed out that Season 5, with its size, narrative, and emotional depth, is her favorite season of the show. And then the spicy part, Season 2 being the last. Her reason? “Least favorite, Season 2, just ’cause I don’t really remember it. Everyone hates Episode 7.”
