On Stranger Things, no character – not even one of the series’ most beloved leads – is ever safe.

*Spoilers follow for the season four finale of ‘Stranger Things’’*

High schooler Max Mayfield seemed particularly lucky to make it out of the Netflix hit’s fourth season alive when the final episodes premiered this month (July 2022).

Now, series creators Ross and Matt Duffer have admitted they considered killing off Max (Sadie Sink), who was mercilessly tormented by the demon Vecna and ended the season in a coma in hospital.

“It was discussed as a possibility,” Ross Duffer said on the Stranger Things after-show.

“For a while that is what was going to happen. But we ended up in this… we wanted to end it with a little more of a question at the end of the season.”

From season four’s earliest episodes, Max was plagued by nightmares and debilitating headaches, which were eventually revealed to be caused by Vecna. Her friends discovered that by playing Max’s favourite song – “Running Up That Hill” by Kate Bush – they could keep her tethered to the real world.

Ultimately, the song, which soared to No. 1 in the charts thanks to its Stranger Things feature, was not enough to keep her safe. Vecna breaks all of Max’s bones and leaves her a coma in the season’s final episode. Her terrible fate is the closest the series’ Goonies-inspired gang has come to defeat.

Ross Duffer continued: “It’s still really dark and if Max is going to be okay, we just don’t really know. We wanted to leave it up in the air moving forward into Season 5.”

The brothers’ comments regarding Max’s uncertain future are not the first they’ve made about the show’s final season, which is expected to be released in 2024. Fans have already had their hopes dashed over one popular wish.

Meanwhile, the brothers have shared one big change they’ll introduce to the show, and also explained the alternate fate of a character killed off in season four, should they have made it to season five.