Sadie Sink confirms that
Eleven and Max had significantly developed in season 3, showing them as coming into a friendship of their own and showing they care about each other.
Max and Eleven's blossoming friendship was one of the highlights of Stranger Things season 3. Though El initially disliked Max after thinking she was flirting with Mike in season 2, she later reached out to Max when she was going through a rough patch with Mike.
A newcomer to the Party, and the stepsister of Billy Hargrove, she is best friends with Will Byers, Dustin Henderson, Jane "Eleven" Hopper, Lucas Sinclair and Mike Wheeler; she also has an on-and-off romantic relationship with Lucas.
In Stranger Things season 3, Max formed a closer friendship with Eleven as the latter became more adjusted to the regular habits of a teenage girl in the '80s. The two teen friends became quite a formidable pair, but in the new, ongoing season 4, they've been kept entirely apart.
Mike and Eleven have been the couple to root for from the start. After everything they've been through, Season 4 proved that not even a long-distance relationship could dent their relationship.
Max's Devastating Journey With Guilt Is Still Unresolved
These things led to her mental state worsening, and it's even more amplified when Vecna attacks her. Moreover, after the big fight in "The Piggyback", Max, after nearly dying, ends up in a coma, with her eyes gone and most of her limbs broken.
Max's past experience with trauma — namely, watching the Mind Flayer brutally kill her stepbrother Billy (Dacre Montgomery) in Season 3 — makes her a target for Vecna's manipulation. She's become withdrawn and adrift, pulling away from her friends and sinking deeper into what looks like depression.
Max and Eleven didn't get along when they first met, because Eleven was under the impression that Max liked Finn Wolfhard's character Mike. It wasn't until the third season we saw Max and Eleven bond and eventually become friends. But many fans speculate that the two characters are meant to be more than friends.
Eleven And Max: Because They Can Move On From Animosity
Understandably, Eleven was alone and incredibly jealous of the fact that Max could be with her friends when she couldn't.
Eleven mistakenly thought that Max had replaced her in Mike's affections. The look of jealousy on Eleven's face said it all. She was livid. While first impressions aren't always correct, one never really forgets that feeling you get when you first meet a person.
The ship sailed mainly due to the girls' friendship that appeared in Season 3. Fans enjoyed the way that Max helped Eleven grow as a person and realize that she didn't need "stupid boys".
Inside Max's mind, Eleven reaches out to her friend and tells her she can't go yet, and Eleven manages to somehow use her powers to bring Max back from the dead.
Once El realizes that Mike is talking to another girl, her demeanor shifts. The loving glow from seeing Mike is replaced by burning jealousy that she expresses by using her powers to pull Max's skateboard out from under her, causing her to fall.
After serving as bait for Vecna, she becomes his “final sacrifice,” getting her bones broken and losing her vision during a low point. Once the fight is over, she dies in Lucas' arms, unable to see or feel anything as Eleven looks on from her mindspace.
The reason that Eleven couldn't find Max is actually pretty simple -- Max had already died. That means her soul had already been absorbed into Vecna's consciousness. So, while Eleven restarted Max's heart and brought her body back to life, she was trapped inside of Vecna's hive mind.
Max essentially has a conversation with Vecna about Billy, and why he was right when he said that Max wanted Billy to die. She says, “he made my life living hell”, and she's right. In the episodes leading up to his death, Billy was consistently abusive towards Max and her friends.
Sink, 15, says she was nervous about the scene and Ross Duffer says he was intentionally joking about the kiss but after Sink's reaction was “so strong” and she was “so freaked” that he decided to film the part. Describing the kiss, Sink told Beyond Stranger Things: “The kiss was not written in the script.
Deciding to make a change, Billy physically held back the Flayer, who killed him by stabbing him in the chest. In his final words, he apologized to Max.
While it may be true that Caleb McLaughlin's character, Lucas, gets one of the cutest relationships on the show -- his love story with Max -- McLaughlin is not reported to be seeing anyone off-screen.
He's a kid with a lot of emotions that he never learned how to express with words or say something as vulnerable as "I love you", and thus expresses his feelings with actions instead. The difference between Eleven and Mike is clear.
Now actor Noah Schnapp, who plays Will, revealed to Variety that his character is indeed gay, and secretly has feelings for his best friend, Mike, who's in a relationship with Eleven.
Now that he's gotten older, they made it a very real, obvious thing,” the actor explained. “Now it's 100% clear that he is gay and he does love Mike.