The Stranger Things Season 4 finale didn't quite kill off as many main characters as most of us assumed it would, but it still had an incredibly emotional cliffhanger as Max Mayfield was left in a coma, blinded and with multiple broken bones, following her showdown with Vecna. Although Max had technically died for a whole minute, Eleven was able to revive her using her powers.
With the final two episodes having now been available on Netflix for a while now, Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer have started to talk about the season's biggest moments. As it turns out, the original plan was to have Max get permanently killed.
Here's what co-creator Ross Duffer said in the Stranger Things official After Show:
“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, where 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.”
Matt Duffer added that the decision to put Max in a coma actually came during the pandemic delay as they were writing Season 5. It was even hinted that the fact that Max is in a coma will have a major impact on the final season.
"The other thing about the coma, that idea that came as we were also in this extra half year that we had. We went and wrote Season 5. So Season 5 is solved, and the fact that she's in the coma. I can't really get into the details but it is important that she is. And that is going to have a major effect on 5. So it's not a 'Oh, well' a cheat. It's incredibly relevant to 5.
With confirmation that Max is alive — but blinded and left in a coma — there are all sorts of theories as to what this could mean for Season 5. One of the popular theories floating around the internet is that Max's soul now lives within Vecna as he consumes everything about the person he kills. If that's the case, then there's hope that Eleven could still save Max if she is able to defeat Vecna.
Do you have any theories about Max heading into Stranger Things Season 5? Sound off in the comments below!