EDITORS NOTE: This article contains spoilers for both episodes of Stranger Things Season 4 Volume 2.Stranger Things Season 4 Volume 2 has finally arrived on Netflix after a month-long hiatus. It's almost as if the world has been holding its breath waiting for this moment — waiting to see if Eleven would once again save the day if Joyce and Hopper would make it out of Russia, and most importantly if our heroes would survive. Earlier this week Collider's own Steve Weintraub sat down with Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer to break down the final two episodes of the penultimate season.

In the Season 4 finale, an essential part of the party's plan to take down Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) involves Max (Sadie Sink) lowering her Kate Bush shield and allowing the monster to target her once more. Max's escape from Vecna was one of the most triumphant moments in Volume 1, however, in Volume 2, she's not so lucky. Essentially, Max must die — even if just for a few moments — in order for Vecna to keep his grip on the town of Hawkins despite the entire party's best efforts to defeat him entirely. Weintraub asked the Duffer Brothers what went into making this emotional decision, saying, "How much did you debate Max being the person who was the fourth victim, and all the stuff that happens with her?"

Matt Duffer explained:

"We always knew. I mean, we did debate what exactly we wanted to do with Max, but we knew that she was going to obviously be putting herself in real danger. I'm trying to remember exactly how we landed on where we did with Max, but it was pretty early on, I believe, that we decided that was going to be her fate for the end of this season.

It had to be Max. Because she was targeted, and she had never rid herself [of] this curse. She was just putting on a Band-Aid. She was using, effectively Kate Bush, her music as an armor. So it was very early on. That was the plan that she was going to remove that armor and more or less sacrifice herself to back them in order to give them a chance to kill him."

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Image via Netflix

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Max's sacrifice is heartbreaking, but hopefully not permanent as Eleven stayed in her mind at the moment when they lost her and brought her back to life. Max's fate is still up in the air for Season 5, and the party certainly did not make it through this battle unscathed. Season 4's fan-favorite newcomer Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn) had a similar journey to Max, having been marked for death from the first episode in which he appeared.

Ross Duffer elaborated on his brother's answer saying,

"Both her and Eddie, from the get-go, they are targeted, and they're both screwed as a result of Vecna and circumstance, in the case of Eddie. So in some way we see [in] the season they're both doomed in a way since the beginning of the season. Different from something like Bob or where it's just a shocker. It's like, these characters are hurtling towards disaster from very early on in the season."

Stranger Things Season 4 Volume 2 is now streaming on Netflix. Look for more from our exclusive interview with the Duffer brothers soon.

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