⁠"Self-aware humor makes it even better": Fans react as Sadie Sink reflects on Max taking too long to run from Camazotz in 'Stranger Things'

"Stranger Things 5" UK Special Screening - Special Access - Source: Getty
Sadie Sink attends the *Stranger Things 5* UK special screening at Odeon Luxe Leicester Square in London, England, on November 13, 2025. (Image via Getty/Gareth Cattermole)

Sadie Sink has given her two cents on her character, Max, taking so long to run back to her body in ‘Stranger Things’.

The Broadway star sat down for an appearance on The Jimmy Fallon Show, where she was asked about her character taking too long to make a break for it in the final season of the show.

“When I was shooting it, I don’t know if the sense of urgency crossed my mind. But watching it, clearly I’m taking my sweet time with it. Like why are we doing a podcast episode right now? Run!”

Sadie Sink's opinion has already made its way to X, where fans have been reacting with amusement. Here's how one fan reacted, for instance:

"She’s not wrong. watching it back really makes you wonder why everyone suddenly forgot how to sprint. Self-aware humor makes it even better."

The comments didn't end there. See how the rest of X is reacting to Sadie Sink's remarks:

"season so bad even the actors are making fun of it," one fan quipped.
"I like how so many interviews from the cast after the show has ended is them cooking the writing," another echoed.
"She should've been full sprinting and diving," someone else remarked.
"HAHA honestly all of us had the same reaction lmao," a fourth user weighed in.

Even more chimed in with remarks about Sadie Sink's character's decisions:

"She’s not wrong and it’s kind of hilarious that the actor is calling out the show’s own pacing. That whole sequence felt like Netflix saying hold on let’s stretch this tension for one more episode while the character is literally dying. Max out here bleeding between dimensions and the story is like yeah but first let’s have a heartfelt monologue and a synth swell. Fans spent weeks defending it as “emotional realism” and Sadie just said nah it looked like I stopped to record a podcast. Stranger Things loves urgency in theory but in practice it will always choose vibes and runtime. At least she’s honest about it," one user remarked.
"Right, love, clearly the urgency needed a bit of a natter first! But hey, who wouldn’t want to squeeze a good chinwag in before springing into action?" another opined.
"Max said 'side quest first, coma later'," yet another quipped.

Sadie Sink weighs in on Stranger Things finale: Read more

During her conversation with Jimmy Fallon, Sadie Sink was asked about her thoughts on the ending, specifically whether or not she thought Millie Bobby Brown's character, El, was dead.

"I think she's dead, I don't know," Sadie Sink said, to which the audience groaned. "Is that like a hot take or something? I think Mike's story is just one last story, and then they say goodbye to childhood. But that's just one final tale. And that's it. I think it's just like a coping thing."

During the January 4 episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast, however, show creators Matt and Ross Duffer confirmed that a few people know the answer to El's fate. However, they plan on keeping it under wraps.

"We were just talking to Millie about it," Matt explained. "I think it takes away the power of the ending if you tell people what you were thinking as you were writing it."

They also explained their decision to leave El's fate ambiguous:

"We want the audience to be in the shoes that Mike and the whole gang are in, which is, it's up to you to choose whether to believe or not," Matt noted. "I mean, there's evidence that could point in both directions. So, that's the intent of the scene."

Eleven represented the "more fantastical elements of the show," they said.

"How does she continue to exist in that world?" Matt explained. "We had that debate and have characters having that debate throughout the season. What could that look like? Is a happy ending possible? Like a full, happy ending where she's married to Mike and they're living a completely happy life and the government has laid off them and they've ended their experiment?" He admitted that their team simply "couldn't figure out a way to make it work."

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Edited by Jenel Treza Albuquerque