Is Max still alive in 'Stranger Things' Season 5? Volume 1 reveals the fan-favorite character's fate
Netflix's 'Stranger Things' Season 5 Volume 1 delivered one of the most jaw-dropping twists of the show, making the wait for Volume 2 harder than expected. While the final episode showcased Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) mirroring Vecna's (Jamie Campbell Bower) superpowers and Kali Prasad (Linnea Berthelsen) finally making a comeback, fans are left wondering about Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink). The fan-favorite character became the target of Vecna at the end of 'Stranger Things' Season 4. So, let's understand what is really going on with Max in 'Stranger Things' Season 5 Volume 1.
Max remains in a coma throughout the first four episodes of 'Stranger Things' Season 5 Volume 1, but Lucas Sinclair (Caleb McLaughlin) refuses to give up on her. He continues visiting her and plays 'Running Up That Hill' in hopes of waking her, though she shows no response. Physically, Max appears to be healing, as her bones have mended and her neck brace is gone, suggesting she may no longer be bedridden if she wakes. However, she was left blind from Vecna's curse, and it's uncertain whether that condition would be permanent, as per Screen Rant.
By the end of 'Stranger Things' Season 5, episode 3, it's revealed that the figure watching Holly in the Creel house is Max's mindscape version, not her physical body. Max explains to Holly that she did die when Vecna killed her, but she felt something "calling" her and woke up in the Rainbow Room after Henry Creel's (Jamie Campbell Bower) massacre. Since then, she has been trapped inside Vecna's mind, moving through his memories like a maze. Just when she was ready to give up, Max again reached the Rainbow Room and this time heard 'Running Up That Hill,' which Lucas was playing beside her comatose body.
Inside the memory of her own death, she discovered a portal-like doorway leading directly to her hospital room. But before she could escape, the music stopped, the portal closed, and Vecna caught her attempting to flee. While trying to escape Vecna, who appears in his Henry form, Max flees into the memory where Holly is later taken. Instead of entering the Creel house, Max runs into the woods and hides inside a cave. Vecna chases her but stops short of entering as he refuses to go near the rock wall. Max tells Holly that this strange limitation is exactly why she made the cave her safe spot in the mindscape, explaining that his inability to enter is the reason she turned it into her "home."
By the end of Season 5 Volume 1, the show still needs to reveal the truth behind this mysterious memory, the rock formation, and why Henry "can't enter that area." Notably, Sink recently revealed that even before reading the 'Stranger Things' Season 4 finale script, creators Matt and Ross Duffer called her to calm her nerves. Sink recalls them saying, "It's going to say you're dead for a second, but don't worry. That's not the case. You have a role in season 5," as per Entertainment Weekly.
She didn't learn the full truth until much closer to filming the final season, and she's been keeping it secret ever since. Sink revealed that her first real clue came during chemistry reads with Nell Fisher, who plays an older Holly, as she said, "That was the first time I got to read it and I was like, 'What? I'm in a cave? What do you mean?'"
