Photo: Elle
Stranger Things Season 4’s ending could’ve been way harsher.
Creators Matt and Ross Duffer told Felicia Day details about the ending of the show’s fourth season. Ross says there was serious deliberation whether to kill or leave Sadie Sink’s Max Mayfield alone in the final episodes.
“It was discussed as a possibility. For a while, that is what was gonna happen,” Ross told Day.
“We wanted to end it in a little bit more of a question mark at the end of the season where it’s still really dark, and we don’t know if Max is going to be OK… We don’t really know,” he continues. “We wanted to leave it up in the air moving forward into season 5.”
Undergoing depressive thoughts while being tortured by Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower), Max looked to play as decoy and bring the demo-creature to her mind again, so her friends could kill his physical form in the Upside Down.
Unfortunately, Vecna was able to kill Max, but she’s briefly resurrected by Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) – or is she?
Vecna doesn’t simply kill, he consumes his prey, sipping on the essence of their minds and souls. Max, who is in a coma, might still live; however, as Eleven finds out, her mind is void. Eleven is unable to locate Max in her own mind.
Read also: The Duffer Brothers Says Stranger Things 4 was Supposed to Have One More Death
Previously, Sink had told EW that she was unaware of her character Max’s fate.
“It’s definitely all up in the air right now,” she stated. “I’m just as excited as everyone else to find out where Max is and how she’s doing.”
This plot point is not the only massive change to the season’s development and execution. Enzo, known as Dmitri (Tom Wlaschiha), the prison-guard who becomes friends with Jim Hopper (David Harbour), died in the original script.
“He ended up making it,” Matt stated. “But that’s [the most] radical of a departure from the original idea versus what we ended up with.”
The Duffers also talked about the kill-off of fan-favorite Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn) in the finale.
“We fell in love with Eddie, we fell in love with Joe and what Joe was doing… It was written, it was gonna happen and we knew he had to die, but there’s definitely a part of me that wishes he was still around for 5,” Matt reveals.
Read Also: David Harbour Says a Scene in Stranger Things 4 has Ties to Arnold Schwarzenegger
