‘Stranger Things’ Co-Star Sadie Sink on the Importance of Music in Her Performance

Sadie Sink’s year saw her delivering two very different, and two very accomplished, performances that centered around music.

Last fall, Sink starred as “Her” in Taylor Swift’s All Too Well: The Short Film. There, she played the protagonist in Swift’s 10-minute ode to a brief, passionate relationship with “Him,” played by Dylan O’Brien. Her performance runs the gamut of young love from its swirling infancy to its crushing end. Despite the brief running time, Sink’s impact in the role made her something of a household name.

Flash forward to Memorial Day weekend when Stranger Things season four premiered. Sink first appeared in the 1980s-inspired series in season three as Max Mayfield, and her early season four character arc saw her stepping forward as a focus within the ensemble. She had an advanced warning from series creators The Duffer Brothers, but even that didn’t prepare her for the volume of heavy material she would have to carry. Plus, thanks to a music-centered plot point, Sink again found herself tied to a huge breakout song, Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill.”

It’s a good thing that Sink naturally finds a way into a project through music.

“I think, in terms of Stranger Things, I’ve probably listened to that song hundreds and hundreds of times. I went a whole day just putting [“Running Up That Hill”] on loop because, in the show, [Max] has to listen to it 24/7. I didn’t know that song, and when I listened to it the first time, it just felt like Max and Stranger Things,” Sink shared. “In terms of All Too Well, Taylor is such a descriptive and visual writer. She can make you relate to her lyrics without even having experienced anything she’s describing in the songs. So that was definitely the biggest help when I’m creating that character and diving into that world.”

As with so many projects, Stranger Things season four saw a delay thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ironically, the isolation Sink felt during that period would eventually translate into the isolation Max feels during season four as she’s under the influence of Vecna. During the pandemic and filming, she also turned 18 years old and lived on her own for the first time, further enhancing that sense of isolation from which she could draw.

That manifests itself during season four as Max closes herself off from the world and, most challengingly, her friends, including her ex-boyfriend Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin).

“So much of Max is putting up a front, putting up a wall. When she’s in scenes with other people, she’s very defensive and closed off,” Sink explained. “So, you got to see the more vulnerable parts of her when she wasn’t with other people and having to like be performative in any way. It’s nice to play with that and see what that feels like, what that looks like.”

Sink’s largest scene happens as Max, anticipating certain death, writes a series of letters to those who have meant the most to her. One of those letters is to her brother Billy (Dacre Montgomery) who died during season three. The scene requires Sink to read the letter at Billy’s grave shortly before a climactic encounter with Vecna.

Given Sink personally has no experience with such tragedy, she needed to find a way to dig deep and convey the emotions of the moment in an impactful way. The Duffer Brothers chose Max to carry most of the emotional arc of the early season four episodes, and she could not disappoint.

“In the moment, you just put yourself in that place, and it helps having been with this character for a really long time. It feels like she’s essentially a part of me. Of course, I’ve never had that experience in my life, so there’s nothing to pull from. Instead, I just had to fully step into her shoes,” Sink said. “Even reading that letter on the day of, my heart just broke for her. It felt like it was just all leading up to this moment where you really get to see her be human and feel all the things that she deserves to feel and should feel at this point in her life.”

So, what’s up next for Sadie Sink? She’s already filmed a buzzy role against Brendan Fraser in Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale, which should hit this fall’s festival circuit.

Apart from that, Sink wants to (ahem) sink her teeth into human stories and stray away, for a bit, from the horror-tinged projects.

“At this point, I feel maybe I want to take a break from horror for a little bit just because it gets draining after a while, but it still is so fun. Some of the work that I had on Stranger Things was the most fun that I had on set. I’d had the opportunity to work on Max’s character this year and tap into the human aspects of Stranger Things. That was so fulfilling and exciting for me,” Sink explained. “I did The Whale with Darren Aronofsky, and that was a similar vibe. It was just really a human story, so I think doing that really prepped me for season four and helped me tap into the more raw vulnerable moments that we see in Max.”

Stranger Things streams exclusively on Netflix. Season four, volume two, will premiere July 1.