The Duffer Brothers on the Original Ending to STRANGER THINGS 4 That Included a Major Character's Death

We made it through the intense fourth season of Stranger Things nearly, but not completely, unscathed. With the loss of a fan-favorite newcomer weighing on our hearts, we also have the future of the very critical Max to worry about. But we should consider ourselves lucky that Max is in her current state, as the first draft of Season 4 was originally much more definitive.

In a recent interview with Netflix Geeked, Ross Duffer said:

"[Max's death] was discussed as a possibility. For a while that is what was gonna happen. We wanted to end it in a little bit more of a question mark at the end of the season where it's still really dark and we don't know if Max is going to be OK… We don't really know. We wanted to leave it up in the air moving forward into Season 5."

Max is the final of four Vecna victims whose death triggered the apocalypse, transforming Hawkins into the hellish portal to the Upside Down, which lays the groundwork for the fifth and final season of Stranger Things. But unlike the other victims, Max was able to be brought back, at least to the comatose state we last saw her in.

Matt Duffer went on to talk about the season, explaining:

"This season, we always wanted our [Star Wars] Empire Strikes Back season. We tried it a little bit with 3, but this is really doubling down on that idea of — at least 3 has a sad note, there's a sacrifice, but they've defeated the evil, or at least pushed it back for a while. Whereas with this, we wanted them to actually lose. We wanted our characters to experience what that felt like.

"That was the big idea coming into 4, that they were gonna lose and we're gonna introduce Vecna, and they're gonna lose to him. That would be setting our characters up for what is gonna be the ultimate final confrontation with Vecna, with the Upside Down, which is going to be Season 5."

I have a feeling we are going to see a lot more death and destruction before the end of the series, and that’s a bummer. But I know the story is in good hands, and I love what the Duffers have done with it so far. Seasons 1-4 of Stranger Things are available in their entirety now on Netflix.