Heading into season 5, Max is technically alive, but things look pretty bleak. The book Lucas was reading to Max - Stephen King's The Talisman - may offer some clues for what lays ahead in season 5. The popular 80s novel has many similarities to Stranger Things with an adventure about parallel universes.
Despite Max (Sadie Sink) being left in a coma at the end of season 4, she will be returning for season 5. The actress appeared on Today with Hoda and Jenna, where she opened up about the last season of the show.
The creators' confirmation that Max is alive is sure to be soothing news for those concerned about the fan-favorite character, though their note that she's "braindead" does pose a unique challenge for the Duffers going into season 5 in how they either bring Max back or allow her an emotional sendoff.
So, did Max die? Technically, she did—if only for a moment. According to Lucas, the doctors said Max's heart stopped for over a minute, but then she came back to life. Eleven doesn't say that she's responsible for Max's survival, but Will and Mike flash each other a knowing look to say they've figured it out.
Physically, yes. Lucas tells his friends that Max is in a coma, and we see her wearing casts on her arms and legs. The Duffer brothers have also confirmed that at the end of Season 4, Max is alive yet "brain dead, blind, and all of her bones are broken." The big mystery is where the redhead is mentally.
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.
In an interview on theHappy Sad Confused podcast released today, the Duffer brothers said that Max is alive, but “brain dead, blind, and all of her bones are broken.”
Since her limbs were still broken and she's now comatose, it seems Max will still be blind after Stranger Things' season 5 time-jump, as Vecna had already “taken her eyes.”
"I don't want to die. I'm not ready," Max cries as she succumbs to her wounds — even if only for a minute.
Through the window, Max saw her real body levitating above the cemetery, her friends panicking on the ground below. Bracing herself, Max pulled at a vine in Vecna's neck, causing him to writhe in pain and accidentally release her from the vines' grasp.
In episode 7, Vecna is revealed to be Henry Creel (played as a youngster by Raphael Luce), the son of Victor Creel (Robert Englund) and his wife Virginia (Tyner Rushing) shown in the 1950s flashbacks.
Eleven's Life-Saving Decision
Refusing to allow Max to die after their battle with Vecna, Eleven pulls out the stops to save her life. As Lucas begs Max to stay alive, cradling her in his arms, Eleven uses just enough power to get Max's heart beating again.
Max in a relationship with Lucas.
Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink) went through the wringer in Stranger Things season 4. After a bruising battle with Vecna, we left her in a coma, fighting for her life. Max's fate is currently up in the air. We know that she'll return in season 5, but whether she'll be in fighting shape is unknown.
Max attempts to hold on, telling Lucas that she's "not ready to die" but she succumbs to her injuries and ends up dying in Lucas's arms.
Max's death was used a device to push Murphy toward killing Josh in the series finale. Max didn't need to die to wrap up the story this way. Sure, Murphy needed to have a complicated place to land.
Max later regains his memories when he stumbles across the bullet Liz was shot with when she returned to Roswell. Max explains that he never liked mint and asked for peanut the first time Liz served him; she misheard and served him mint.
The fight distracts Lucas from holding onto Max, who levitates under Vecna's thrall. And then it happens: her bones break, her eyes bleed, and she collapses, dead. Max is dead for a minute, but Eleven (who has been psychically piggybacking onto her from Nevada) uses her powers to restart Max's heart.
This ultimately destroyed Vecna. Though they're clouded with cataracts, Vecna in Stranger Things has both of his eyes.
Eleven seems to be able to accomplish great things when she concentrates and focuses really hard, and that seems to be how she brings Max back to life. It's an incredibly powerful storyline and makes it even harder to wait for season 5.
When Edwarda O'Bara died on 21 November 2012, she had survived 15,663 days (about 42 years) in a coma.
Annie Shapiro (1913–2003) was a Canadian apron shop owner who was in a coma for 29 years because of a massive stroke and suddenly awakened in 1992. Apart from the patients in the true story Awakenings, Shapiro was the longest a person has been in a coma like state and woken up.
Max jumped through the window to the balcony. But in reality, there was no balcony. So, Max fell down to the ground from the sixth floor and was killed.