Stranger Things Season 5 will end the Netflix show, and that should mean multiple main characters die, and that no one is safe – except, perhaps, for one person. The series has historically been reluctant to kill off its biggest characters. The most impactful deaths of the show so far have been supporting figures, usually ones introduced in the same season they’re offed: Barb, Bob, Billy, and BEddie. The closest it came to killing a main hero was with Hopper at the end of Season 3, only to reveal he had actually survived.
That probably needs to change. The stakes are bigger than ever as the final fight against Vecna looms, and while any death needs to make sense narratively and emotionally, it’d be a cop-out not to have at least 1-2 major characters be killed off. Everyone is involved in this battle, so they’re all at risk, or so you’d think. But perhaps the safest character of the bunch now is, oddly, Max, who was left in a coma following the events of Stranger Things Season 4.
Why Max Is So Unlikely To Die In Stranger Things Season 5
Despite being left hospitalized, unconscious, and her body broken in multiple ways, there’s surprisinglty cause for optimism for Max surviving the show, even if it does come with another trade-off. As per a set report from Time, the character will remain in a coma until at least halfway through the final season, having witnessed part of a scene where Lucas visits her:
“It betrays very little—except that Lucas is visiting Max (Sadie Sink), who has been comatose since the end of Season 4 and apparently remains so midway through Season 5. Dramatic musical cues imply that she will be enlisted in some plan to fight the villain.”
If Max is in a coma for half of the final season, then I struggle to see the show killing her off after that. She’ll already have been through so much that it would feel devastatingly unfair, but it would also be hard to make her arc feel incomplete if it’s bringing her back and having her die within the span of just four episodes. I actually think her survival at the end of Season 4 even points to that: it could’ve had her die then and it be extremely impactful and emotional, and if they were just going to kill her anyway, why not do it then? Even Sink notes in that same story: “They wouldn’t have kept me around if they didn’t have a purpose for me. They would have killed me off.”
If Max Is Safe, Who Will Die In Stranger Things Season 5?
Outside of Max, it would appear as though just about any Stranger Things character could die in Season 5. Of course, Vecna will surely be defeated, which would mean the end of Henry Creel for good, but I’m more specifically thinking about the heroes of the story. There are a lot of them, and while I don’t think this is the kind of series where we’re suddenly going to see a real bloodbath and half a dozen of them killed off, saying goodbye to a couple, maybe three, seems pretty reasonable, and breaking them down into different groups reveals the more likely candidates.
Firstly, there’s the main group of kids: Eleven, Will, Mike, Lucas, Dustin, and Max. It’s unrealistic for every one of them to survive, so I think at least one of them will die. I’ve already ruled out Max, and while it could be just about any of the others, it’s El, Will, and Mike who would hold the most narrative weight: one is the de facto main character, one is the person whose disappearance started this all, and the other is the group’s leader.
One of those dying would have the most impact on the story, on the emotional response of the characters, and on audiences too. Eleven is the most at risk by virtue of her powers likely meaning she’ll face off more directly with Vecna, but Will’s story with the Upside Down could also mean a sense of things coming full circle if he were to die.
Then there are the slightly older generation, featuring Nancy, Jonathan, Steve, and Robin, with something of a potential love triangle to address in Season 5 between the first three. Logically, that suggests one of Jonathan or Steve dying for maximum impact. Steve’s arc is the one that suggests it the most, given his transformation from jock antagonist to one of the show’s greatest heroes, something that does feel rather complete. Dying makes perfect sense for Steve out of this group – it’d really hurt Nancy, Robin, Dustin, and audiences – so much so the only thing that gives me pause is that it might be the most obvious option.
Of the adults, will either Hopper or Joyce die? The latter feels like it’d be a bit cruel, in a way Stranger Things isn’t (and that its ending presumably won’t be aiming for). Hopper dying would make sense so long as Eleven is surviving, if he does it in a way to sacrifice himself and save her; they’ve done the fakeout with him before, but it does still fit the story. It’d be a devastating blow to lose any of these characters, but also if it’s what’s right for the story, then Season 5 should be prepared to finally say kill off at least some of them.
Stranger Things Season 5: Volume 1 releases on Netflix on Thanksgiving (November 27th). Volume 2 will be released on Christmas Day, and Volume 3 (the finale) releases on New Year’s Eve.
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