“Stranger Things” Season 4 was massive. Nine episodes long, each more than an hour, with a sprawling 2-hours-plus finale that brought the Upside Down to Hawkins and left the characters reeling after heartbreaking loss. So if you need a refresher on how “Stranger Things” Season 4 ended and where all the main characters ended up, here’s a quick guide to what you need to know before Season 5.
Max Mayfield
Dead or Alive? In a coma
Poor Max met a brutal fate during the Season 4 finale, despite the best efforts from the whole crew to keep Vecna from finishing his curse. Max offered herself up as bait during the big attack on Vecna, distracting him so that Nancy, Steve and Robin could attack his sleeping form in the Upside Down. Max tried to hide in her best memories while Eleven tried to fight Vecna telepathically from a pizzashop, but they were overrun on all fronts until Joyce, Hopper and Murray torched the demogorgons in Russia, weakening Vecna via the hive mind, giving them a window to strike.
Unfortunately, it was too late for Max, who was blinded, had several snapped limbs and untold internal injuries. She died in Lucas’ arms, pleading for life, but Eleven used her powers to bring her back. Unfortunately, however, she couldn’t find Max’s consciousness in the void after the fact. That means Max is trapped in coma, with much mystery surrounding her condition beyond the medical.
Vecna, aka Henry, aka One
Dead or Alive? Alive
Vecna got his butt kicked at the end of Season 4, but he disappeared into the unknown before they could end him for good. It took the whole team to bring him down — Erica was lookout, Max distracted him as the next victim of his curse, Dustin and Eddie distracted the demobats, Eleven fought from inside his mind, Hopper, Joyce and Murray torched the demos in Russia, and Nancy, Steve and Robin lit up his physical form in the Upside Down. He also seemed utterly unpeterbed by his temporary defeat, vowing it was only “the beginning of the end.”
Eleven, Mike, Will, Hopper, Joyce, Nancy and Jonathan
At the very end of Season 4, we get a lot of happy reunions as the California and Russia crews make their way back to Hawkins. That means Nancy and Jonathan are reunited after the time they spent away while he was in California, Eleven and Mike are reunited after she was whisked away to Project NINA, and most emotionally of all, Eleven is reunited with the previously presumed dead Hopper, who is back in Hawks for the first time after months in a Russian prison.
We also got a glimpse at what Vecna might have meant about the “beginning of the end,” and their happy ending is cut short when a mysterious snowfall begins and the world around them begins to turn grey, as if the Upside Down is coming right-side up and claiming Hawkins. Season 4 ends with them staring on as the mysterious phenomenon spreads.
Lucas and Erica
Dead or Alive? Alive
Lucas had a rough Season 4, going from the belief he’d found a new place for himself with his fellow athletes to realizing that wasn’t the right place for him at all, and he’s left devastated by what happened to Max in her confrontation with Vecna. During the final scenes of Season 4, we see him reading to her in the hospital, still looking after her. At the tail end of the episode, we also get a glimpse of Lucas and Erica at home, staring out the window as they watch the mysterious Upside Down “snow” falling outside.
Dustin, Steve, Robin and Vickie
Dead or Alive? Alive
The last time we see Dustin, Steve, Robin and Vickie is at a community shelter where people are taking refuge after Vecna’s gates ripped Hawkins open. Dustin has a heartfelt moment with Eddie’s uncle, giving him closure after Eddie’s death. Robin, Steve and Vickie all appear to be volunteering at the shelter, and Robin shares some sweet, flirtatious banter with her band crush, Vickie, while they make PB&Js and Steve looks on with a knowing smile.
Eddie Munson
Dead or Alive? Dead
You almost certainly remember this one, it was the big heartbreak death of the season. Eddie Munson, town pariah and leader of the Hellfire Club, was killed by demobats and died in the Upside Down. As a part of the big final showdown against Vecna, he and Dustin lured the demobats away from Creel House with a “most metal ever” performance of Metallica’s “Master of Puppets.” However, the bats got into the trailer, and he realized they needed to buy the others more time, so he sacrificed himself to keep drawing the demobats away.
After his death, he was blamed for the Vecna’s Curse killings, and Dustin told his uncle (who never believed Eddie was guilty) that he died a hero during the “earthquake” caused by Vecna’s gates opening.
Dr. Brenner, aka Papa
Alive or Dead? Dead
Arguably the show’s most compelling villain, Dr. Martin Brenner, Eleven’s Papa, met his end in Season 4. After putting Eleven through an immersive program of her worst memories to unlock her powers once again, Dr. Brenner tried to stop her from escaping — only to be the one rushing her to safety when the military attacked. He was shot during their attempted escape, and though he begged Eleven for forgiveness and understanding, she spurned him in his final moments.
Dr. Sam Owens
Dead or Alive? Unknown
As the scientist who took over Hawkins Lab after Dr. Brenner, Dr. Sam Owens has been a significant supporting character and continuous thread throughout the series since Season 2. But whereabouts and status are currently unknown. He was last seen during the military attack on the Nina Project, pleading for mercy toward Eleven.
Jason Carver
Dead or Alive? Dead
After the death of his girlfriend, Chrissy, and friend, Patrick, Jason Carver snapped in his grief and went hunting for the people he believed were tapping into evil forces and killing the people he loved: namely, Eddie Munson and the Hellfire Club. At the end of Season 4, he attacked during a pivotal moment of the showdown with Vecna at the Creel House, and during his fight with Lucas, crushed Max’s tape player, dooming her to Vecna’s curse. After she died (temporarily), Vecna was able to open the fourth gate, which created a mass destruction phenomenon, sending out connecting torrents of interdimensional energy. Being at the Creel House, Jason got caught up in one of those torrents and died.
Argyle
Dead or Alive? Alive
Jonathan’s stoner BFF in California, Argyle, made it out of Season 4 alive, taking the California crew cross-country in his Surfer Boy Pizza van, but don’t expect to see him in Season 5. Actor Eduardo Franco said he “never got a call” to be in the final season. The last we saw of Argyle, he was rolling up to the Wheeler house with the California crew. Presumably, he drove his way back to California before the quarantine kicked in; safe, sound and far away from the threats of the Upside Down, possibly having a pineapple pizza somewhere.
Dmitri “Enzo” Antonov, the Russian Guard
Dead or Alive? Unknown
A situational ally to Hopper throughout Season 5, Dmitri was a guard at the prison where Hopper was kept and the one who helped him get in contact with Joyce to plan his escape. Unfortunately, he’s also the one who connected Hopper with the treacherous pilot Yuri, who betrayed them, leading them right back to prison, where they had to fight a demogorgon. Surprisingly, they both made it out of that alive. Joyce, Murray and Hopper return to the prison in order to destroy the demodogs to help the fight against Vecna, and the last we see of Dmitri is that he convinces Yuri to do the right thing and save them with his helicopter. Both Dmitri and Yuri are seen flying into to rescue them, and their fates after that are unknown for now.
