The Truth About Sadie Sink and Caleb McLaughlin’s Offscreen Relationship

On-screen, Max and Lucas are a little messy. Off-screen, Sadie Sink and Caleb McLaughlin have been tight for years. With Stranger Things heading into its final season, people keep asking two things: are those two actually close, and are their characters going to survive the endgame? Short answers: yes, and probably. Longer answers below.

Before Hawkins: two Broadway kids who already knew each other

Way before Netflix and nosebleeds, both Sink and McLaughlin were New York theater kids. In 2012, Sadie was in the Annie revival while Caleb was playing Young Simba in The Lion King. They were not in the same show, but they kept bumping into each other — auditions, rehearsals, the whole kid-performer circuit — and especially at the little park off 43rd St. by Times Square where every Broadway kid burned off energy between shows.

'If you're a child, and you're on Broadway, you automatically know every other child in a production. It's a proper community. There's a park on 43rd street where we would all go to let off energy before we had to go back and perform another show.'

'I've known her since I was 10 years old. We were on Broadway in different shows, and we used to see each other in Times Square at this park that all these Broadway kids used to go to. I feel that because of Sadie and I's friendship, it's easy to just have that same type of relationship on the show.'

So when Stranger Things came along, the Max-and-Lucas spark was not manufactured. It was two friends who had already logged years of real-life comfort and chemistry finally sharing a screen.

How close are they now?

They have been in each other's orbit since they were 10, which is basically a lifetime in kid-actor years. The friendship predates Hawkins, the Upside Down, and the Netflix surge — and it shows in their scenes together. Whatever happens to their characters, the off-camera bond is its own thing.

Season 5: do Max and Lucas make it out?

The Duffers hold the red pen, obviously, but here is where things stand:

Lucas feels like one of the more grounded, resilient members of the crew at this point. He went from the skeptic of season 1 to the guy who shows up when it counts. Killing him right before the finish line would be a weird narrative choice, so I do not expect that.

Max is the bigger question mark. After season 4's showdown with Vecna, she is in a coma — which sounds bleak, but in TV language it also screams setup for a comeback. The final season is supposed to close out the major arcs; my bet is both Max and Lucas make it through, a little battered, but not gone.

Stranger Things at a glance

• Name: Stranger Things
• Seasons: 4
• Showrunners: The Duffer Brothers
• IMDb: 8.6/10
• Rotten Tomatoes: 92%
• Network: Netflix

Stranger Things is currently streaming on Netflix.