‘Stranger Things’ Star Caleb McLaughlin Reveals Real Emotions Behind Lucas & Max’s Volume 2 Reunion

Meaghan Darwish December 26, 2025, 12:57 pm

Caleb McLaughlin in 'Stranger Things' Season 5 — Netflix

What To Know

Stranger Things star Caleb McLaughlin has opened up about Lucas and Max’s pivotal reunion.
Learn more about the emotions behind Season 5’s Volume 2 climax.
Plus, the actor explains how Lucas’ emotions have shifted between Seasons 4 and 5.

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Stranger Things, Season 5 Volume 2.]

Stranger Things may have put our favorite characters through the wringer once again, but there was no shortage of sweet moments, particularly when it came to a long-awaited reunion between Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) and Max (Sadie Sink).

Never losing faith in Max’s potential return to the real world, Lucas remained diligently by her side, as fans saw at the beginning of Season 5. He’d visit her in the hospital, play Kate Bush‘s “Running Up That Hill,” and believed that searching for Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) could be the answer to her salvation. As fans finally saw in Volume 2’s pivotal episode, “Escape From Camazotz,” Max found an open portal to Lucas.

The catch? Vecna had used Will (Noah Schnapp) to find Max’s physical body and then sent the Demogorgons after her. Thanks to Mrs. Wheeler (Cara Buono), the monster was blown to smithereens after she threw an oxygen tank into a dryer machine. This gave Max enough wiggle room on the other side of Camazotz to emerge in the real world, out of her trance.

Sadie Sink and Caleb McLaughlin in 'Stranger Things' Season 5

Netflix

The resulting reunion was extremely emotional as Lucas told her he’d never given up that she’d return. Additionally, Max revealed to Lucas that even though Kate Bush helped, all she really needed was him to make it out of Camazotz. The exchange is one of Volume 2’s most palpable, and McLaughlin opened up about the real emotions behind filming the reunion in an interview with Deadline.

“Last year, we rarely saw her,” McLaughlin opened up about not having Sink on set with him as much in Season 5. “That moment, it almost felt real, because I wasn’t around her for so long,” he shared. “You miss your friend when you’re on set. You miss the camaraderie you both have. So I think with that, seeing that emotion that I had [access], to the state of mind that I had to be in, was a different emotion from Season 4, when he was losing her.”

Is 'Stranger Things' Going to Kill Off Eleven? Duffers Break Down Volume 2 Cliffhanger

As viewers will recall, Max was taken under Vecna’s spell, her bones broken, eyes damaged, and put into a coma. Season 5 revealed that Max had actually been in a trance this whole time, stuck in the space she’d end up calling Camazotz when she crossed paths with Holly Wheeler (Nell Fisher) there.

“In this moment, it was more of an emotion of relief and joy…it wasn’t sadness, it was happiness,” McLaughlin added of Lucas’ emotions surrounding his reunion with Max. “But then also, at the same time, that feeling of loss, because now everything that he was feeling, he can now have this release.”

What did you think of Lucas and Max’s reunion? Let us know in the comments section, and stay tuned to see how their stories unfold in the finale.

Stranger Things, Season 5 Finale, Premiere, December 31, 2025, Netflix