“Stranger Things'” Sadie Sink Reveals What She Thinks Happened to Eleven in the Finale: 'Is That a Hot Take?'
- - “Stranger Things'” Sadie Sink Reveals What She Thinks Happened to Eleven in the Finale: 'Is That a Hot Take?'
Julia MooreJanuary 7, 2026 at 2:59 AM
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Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty; Netflix
Sadie Sink on 'The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon' (left); Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven in 'Stranger Things' (right)
Warning: This post contains spoilers for the Stranger Things finale.
In the Stranger Things finale, Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) sacrificed herself when the Upside Down was destroyed
Mike (Finn Wolfhard) told his friends he believed she escaped and survived
Sadie Sink weighed in on whether she believes Mike's theory or not on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
Fans have been debating whether or not Eleven survived in the Stranger Things finale, but the answer, according to star Sadie Sink, is pretty clear.
The actress, 23, who played Max Mayfield in the hit Netflix series from season 2, appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Jan. 5. When host Jimmy Fallon asked if she thinks Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) survived her suicide mission, Sink was brutally honest.
“What do I think? I think she’s dead, I don't know," she said.
Sink could tell immediately by the audience's response that her perspective was different than theirs. “Is that a hot take or something?” she asked.
Fallon agreed, though. "I think she is, too," he said.
Netflix
Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler, Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair, Sadie Sink as Max Mayfield, Noah Schnapp as Will Byers, and Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson in 'Stranger Things' season 5
At the very end of the episode, Mike (Finn Wolfhard) tells Max, Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) and Will (Noah Schnapp) that he thinks Eleven actually survived before the Upside Down was destroyed.
“I think Mike’s story is just one last story," Sink explained. "And then they say goodbye to childhood, but that’s just one final tale, and that’s it."
Mike's belief that Eleven didn't die but rather escaped — with the help of Kali (Linnea Berthelsen) — is, in Sink's words, "just a coping thing.”
"I think it's stronger," Sink said of her belief that Eleven is dead. “That’s my interpretation. I’m sorry.”
Matarazzo, 23, has taken a different approach to his view on Eleven's fate. The actor told Deadline that it's "perfect" that fans are split on whether they believe she escaped or died.
"That’s exactly how it should be. There should be a debate about it. There should be discourse. There should be no ‘Here’s why this, here’s why this,'" he said.
"The audience can kind of leave it up to interpretation for them, whatever works for them as to Eleven’s whereabouts, as to whether she’s alive or not, whatever makes you feel better about the show is fully okay for you to do."
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Netflix
Sadie Sink as Max Mayfield, Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven, and Linnea Berthelsen as Kali in 'Stranger Things' season 5
As for what the characters onscreen think, Matarazzo told the outlet, "I’m not convinced that there is a consensus amongst the group as to whether or not they agree. I don’t know if there is. I don’t know if they all believe."
"I think I would rather leave Dustin’s mindset on that more personal and up to people’s interpretation, even though my mind is kind of made up as to what he feels."
Brothers Matt and Ross Duffer, who created Stranger Things, wanted to leave Eleven's fate up in the air on purpose, to allow fans to "decide what they think happens to Eleven."
"It’s about Mike and everyone finding a way to move past what’s happened," Matt told Netflix's Tudum.
"For our characters to move on and for the story of Hawkins and the Upside Down to come to a close, Eleven had to go away," he said. "We thought it would be beautiful if our characters continued to believe in that happier ending, even if we didn’t give them a clear answer to whether that’s true or not."
The Stranger Things finale is streaming now on Netflix.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
