Sadie Sink Reveals If She Thinks [Spoiler] Died in ‘Stranger Things’ Finale

Sadie Sink is weighing in on whether she thinks a main character actually died in the Stranger Things series finale.

During an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Monday, January 5, Sink, 23, was asked her thoughts on whether Millie Bobby Brown‘s fan-favorite character survived, as Mike (Finn Wolfhard) theorized in the finale’s final few minutes.

“What do I think? I think she’s dead,” she said. “Is that a hot take?”

Sink elaborated on why she decided Eleven didn’t survive, adding, “I think Mike’s story is one last story. Then they say goodbye to childhood, but that is one final tale. It is a coping thing. It is stronger [if Eleven died]. That is my interpretation.”

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In the series finale, which premiered on December 31, Eleven remained in the Upside Down after defeating Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) in order to keep her friends safe. The time jump at the end of the episode showed that Eleven was presumed dead. Mike, however, suggested that Eleven found a way to survive and remained hopeful that his childhood sweetheart was able to live her life somewhere far away from Hawkins.

“What we wanted to do was confront the reality of what her situation was after all of this and how could she live a normal life,” creator Matt Duffer told Netflix’s Tudum in a postmortem interview. “These are the questions that we’ve been posing this season that Hopper just doesn’t even want to think or talk about. Mike’s obviously talked about it a lot, but it’s sort of this fantasy version that would never work.”

Matt noted that there “are two roads” that Eleven could have taken. “There’s this darker, more pessimistic one or the optimistic, hopeful one,” he added. “Mike is the optimist of the group and has chosen to believe in that story.”

Cocreator Ross Duffer, meanwhile, confirmed this was always the ending to the show.

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“There was never a version of the story where Eleven was hanging out with the gang at the end. For us and our writers, we didn’t want to take her powers away,” he explained. “She represents magic in a lot of ways and the magic of childhood. 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.”

Ross continued: “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 fact that they’re believing in it, we just thought it was such a better way to end the story and a better way to represent the closure of this journey and their journey from children to adults.”

The duo suggested that each viewer could have their own interpretation of where Eleven ended up.

“And the reality is, if Eleven is out there, the most that they could hope for is a belief that it’s true because they can’t be in contact with her,” Matt concluded. “Everything falls apart if that were the case. So if that’s the narrative, this is really the best way to keep her alive. And it’s about Mike and everyone finding a way to move past what’s happened.”

Stranger Things is currently streaming on Netflix.