Stranger Things star Sadie Sink hints at how her character will be affected by her brother's death in the upcoming season 4. Created by brothers Matt and Ross Duffer, the series follows a group of young friends who must contend with the various supernatural happenings that plague their town of Hawkins, Indiana. Taking inspiration from the show's 1980s setting, Stranger Things acts as somewhat of a love letter to the sci-fi and horror movies of the era, with each season offering homages to various genre properties. Since Stranger Things dropped its first season on Netflix in 2016, the series has amassed a massive fanbase, and after a long delay, largely due to the pandemic, audiences are finally getting season 4 later this month.
While much of what Stranger Things season 4 has to offer has been kept heavily under wraps, it seems it will be somewhat different from previous installments given where season 3 left off. When audiences last saw these characters, their lives were in a state of turmoil. Several of them - including Will (Noah Schnapp) and Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) - had moved away from Hawkins. Chief Hopper (David Harbour) was presumed dead, though he has since been revealed to be alive in a prison camp. Then there's Max (Sink), who lost her brother Billy (Dacre Montgomery) last season.
In a recent interview with Radio Times, Sink teases how the loss of Billy will affect Max in Stranger Things going forward. While she remains vague about Max's exact storyline in season 4, Sink has revealed that her character will go through "some heavy stuff this year." Sink has also described season 4 as feeling "a bit more human" than previous seasons, going on to detail how the new season contains content that she felt needed to be handled with more delicacy than subject matter previously tackled on the series. See her full quote below:
"I mean, yeah, she had some heavy stuff this year. It was kind of a nice challenge, figuring out what these types of [moods] looked like on Max and find something that felt true to her. The writing was really good. So it made my job a lot easier.
It was kind of a more careful process than I think I was used to in previous seasons. Because, I mean, we were always dealing with supernatural elements and heavy stuff like that. But season 4, it feels a little bit more human. So it required a little bit more attention and focus."
Viewers may already be worried about what Max might have to deal with in Stranger Things season 4. In previous seasons, Max's relationship with Billy was explored quite thoroughly, while her relationship with the rest of her family was hardly explored at all. However, Billy's relationship with the rest of the family certainly was explored, with it being revealed that Billy's father (Max's step-father) was physically abusive towards Billy, which Billy then took out on Max. This brings up the worry that Max's step-father may turn that abuse on her now that Billy is gone.
This, of course, is only speculation and can't be confirmed until the new episodes release. While Sink has stated that Max will have her fair share of struggles in the upcoming season, she has been very careful not to reveal any details, so no conclusions can be fully drawn. As of the end of season 3, Max is still living in Hawkins where the majority of her friends still reside, so whatever she goes through, she likely won't have to brave it alone. Still, nothing can be said for certain until Stranger Things season 4 Vol. 1 hits Netflix on May 27th.
Source: Radio Times