Max Mayfield’s arc in Stranger Things season 5 left viewers nervous, sniffling with tears, and hitting replay just to relive these moments and hope for her comeback; however, behind those intense action sequences, with Sadie Sink’s performance? The actress was literally falling asleep on set.
While speaking with Variety, Sink revealed that filming hospital scenes for Max in Season 4 was not as insane as it seemed. Scheduling made it easy for her to fall asleep:
“We shot all the coma stuff over the span of one day,” said Sink. “So everybody was moving around me as they do all of the hospital scenes. And different actors would come in and out and talk to me or just in front of me. And I didn’t really have to move. So I did nod off a couple of times.”
The fans were riveted to Max while Sink took power naps.
Hollywood magic is real.
Where Has Max Been All This Time?
After Season 4, Max was left like this: Her body defeated the major bad guy, but her spirit was nowhere to be found. Eleven could not find her. There was no activity in the Hawkins hospital room. The question was: Was Max dead?
Season 5 tackles that question, and it’s every bit as chilling as anticipated.
Max isn’t just stuck in darkness; she’s stuck inside of Vecna’s mind prison.
While her body was unconscious, mind-warping activity took place: Max’s mind hid inside a cave-like area of Vecna’s psychic plane, while she almost managed to escape once when she recalled when Vecna tried to kill her on that fateful night.
The instant “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)” ended playing in Kate Bush’s hospital room, the connection to reality was broken.
That song was more than emotion. It was her lifeline.
It ended when she was pulled back into Vecna’s world.
Vecna pursued her through twisted memories and odd visions of her life, and even echoes of times past. She found the cave and, instead of breaking, built something there.
A small home constructed from pieces of memory.
Max Didn’t Just Survive–She Rebuilt Herself
One of Sink’s favorite parts of Max’s Season 5 arc is how Max took up space in the midst of all this chaos.
“She made it her own with this collection of things from memories,” Sink said. “Even the clothes she wears.”
Even her clothing has secrets.
Fans are already abuzz with obsession over one tiny detail: Max’s jeans spot.
It’s a swatch of cloth taken from a shirt once worn by young Henry Creel, himself a boy destined to become Vecna.
It’s not coincidental. It’s symbolism.
Max evaded him not only bodily. “She took a part of him as protection, identity, and armor.”
A teenager haunting the monster’s brain, making it hers.
Stranger Things Enters The Endgame
Fans can now relax because the endgame has finally arrived.
Volume 1 of Season 5 of Stranger Things is available on Netflix now.
Volume 2 will arrive on Christmas Day at 5 p.m. PT.
And the Series Finale?
New Year’s Eve at 5 p.m. PT.
Fireworks, champagne, and one final trip to Hawkins.
Max’s coma was quiet, but her story now speaks louder than ever before. And even though Sadie Sink slept through filming, no one will sleep through watching how it ends.
