"Best coma performance of all time": Matt Duffer talks about the fate of Sadie Sink's Max in Stranger Things season 5

As Stranger Things season 5 begins its final rollout, the long-running Netflix phenomenon shifts into its most ambitious chapter yet. The new season returns to Hawkins at a moment of crisis, following the catastrophic events of Season 4 and the deep fractures left in the lives of its core characters. Among those lingering uncertainties, Max Mayfield’s condition remains one of the most significant narrative threads, a storyline elevated once again by Sadie Sink’s layered performance.

A recent Gold Derby interview with creators Matt and Ross Duffer sheds new light on how Max fits into the closing arc. During the conversation, Matt Duffer described Sink’s work this season as delivering: 

“The best coma performance of all time.” 

It's a comment that immediately drew attention and hinted at the complexity surrounding Max’s role in the final episodes. With Volume 1 already released on November 26, 2025, and the next installments arriving in December, the Duffers’ remarks offer a rare glimpse into how the character may shape the story’s concluding beats.

How the Duffers are shaping Max’s high-stakes return in the final season

In the interview with Gold Derby, Matt Duffer doesn’t hold back his admiration for Sadie Sink, offering the quote that immediately sent the fandom spiraling: 

“I think Sadie gives the best coma performance of all time… very, very believable. I don't know whether that will get her awards, but I think there's going to be a lot of award talk around Sadie.”

He follows it with an equally telling tease: 

Sink is “extraordinary,” but he "doesn’t want to reveal too much about how she factors into the show.” 

Ross Duffer adds an even clearer hint: 

“I think it’ll surprise people how she comes into the show.”

Sadie Sink’s own reflections deepen this perspective. In an interview with Deadline, she acknowledged that the Duffers warned her during Season 4 filming that her character’s arc would continue in a difficult and unconventional way. As she recalls: 

“You’re gonna get the final episode of Season 4, and it’s gonna say that you died, but don’t worry. You’re in a coma, and we do have a plot for you in Season 5.” 

This early heads-up prepared her for one of Max’s most complex transformations.

Season 5 positions Max not only as a victim of Vecna but as someone who has learned to maneuver through his mindscape. She reveals in Episode 4, titled Sorcerer, that she occupies a specific cave system inside Henry’s memories, a place he refuses to enter. Sink explained that the challenge of building this version of the character came from imagining 18 months spent inside another person’s mind.

Her dynamic with Holly Wheeler becomes a major emotional beat. For the first time in over a year, Max has a person to talk to, another mind trapped by Henry. Duffer emphasized that this connection becomes a storytelling breakthrough, allowing Max to communicate, strategize, and plant seeds that Volume 2 will expand upon.

Her attempted escape ties directly into this emotional momentum. Max describes how she followed the sound of Running Up That Hill in the mindscape until she reached the memory of her own death. When she spotted Lucas by her hospital bedside playing the same song, she came heartbreakingly close to reaching him before the music cut out and the doorway sealed shut. 

Where Max’s story sits in Stranger Things Season 5, and how Volume 1 sets the stage

Volume 1 of Stranger Things season 5 lays down a tightly woven set of plotlines that converge around Henry Creel's escalating plan and the captured children. The first four episodes unravel the mystery behind the vanished kids, reveal that Vecna needs 12 children to finalize his long-term scheme, and re-establish Will Byers’ psychic tether to the hive mind.

Max’s role is central to Episode 4, where Holly Wheeler is dragged into the mindscape and encounters Max for the first time. Through Max’s recounting, viewers learn how deeply she has been navigating Henry’s memories, observing events from the Rainbow Room massacre to fragments of Creel House. She admits she “kept moving from memory to memory” until she became lost, eventually hearing Kate Bush’s song and chasing it toward the real world. But as she neared her body in the hospital, the tape ended and the portal closed, ending her closest attempt at escape.

Volume 1 closes without resolving her fate, but it establishes her as the emotional key to Vecna’s downfall. With Volume 2 arriving December 25, and the finale on January 1, 2026, the remaining episodes promise answers about whether Max can break free, whether the caves hold the secret to Henry’s fear, and whether Lucas’ persistence will bridge the divide between mind and body.

Max’s future remains a closely guarded secret of Stranger Things season 5, but the Duffers’ new comments make one thing undeniable: Sadie Sink’s character is central to the final chapter, even in a coma. As the season barrels toward its December 31 finale, the question isn’t whether Max matters, it’s how her return will reshape the battle for Hawkins, and whether her story becomes the most haunting twist the series has ever delivered.