Despite Stranger Things' habit of character death fake-outs, the Duffer brothers confirm that season 4's most upsetting death is permanent. Matt and Ross Duffer, the creators of Stranger Things, confirm that Joseph Quinn's beloved Eddie Munson is definitely dead.
Sorry. Eddie is definitely dead, the Duffers confirmed, squashing all hopes of a Martin Brenner-esque resurrection”, though it's worth noting that it isn't a direct quote.
The Duffer brothers stated that the only logical conclusion to Eddie's story was death. In a way, he was meant to be a tragic character. "There was never any other arc for him and there was no 'how do you survive this'?" said Ross Duffer. "At the very end, you see people still drawing devil horns on his head.
Eddie is definitely dead, the Duffers confirmed, squashing all hopes of a Martin Brenner-esque resurrection. Max (Sadie Sink), however, is alive, but "brain dead, blind, and all of her bones are broken," the brothers said.
In fact, they said they always planned to kill Eddie off when they created his character. “We sort of saw Eddie as a bit of a doomed character,” Matt Duffer admitted, while sharing a miserable alternate fate for the character should he have made it to season five.
Brenner (Matthew Modine), who was a significant character in Eleven's life and whose death served to end season 4, episode 8, "Papa," Eddie's death had a more tragic completionist element to it. Dr. Brenner was effectively a villain whose death gave Eleven closure, so it makes sense that no one would mourn him.
Having been considered a “mean and scary” individual by his classmates, Eddie's death would prove that he was actually the opposite by sacrificing himself to save all of those who hate him.
Producer Shawn Levy has been similarly blunt in why Eddie can't come back, admitting that while he and the creative team were similarly obsessed with him, it's "highly unlikely" he could return.
The Duffer Brothers have insisted that Eddie is officially dead, but many fans believe that they may be playing with the emotions of the fandom.
Eddie dies sacrificing himself and the other characters all feel the impact of what he has done.
With his death against them being so inevitable, the Demobats were bound to return to a target soon and take lives anyway. If anything, Eddie's sacrifice was more about him not running away than about the Demobats actually being taken care of.
Eddie may not become a vampire per se, but according to theory, there's the potential for him to simply be undead and be brought back by Vecna to torture our still-living characters. It's a thought that has floated around the fandom for years and with Vecna's deceitful nature, it doesn't seem far-fetched.
A Redditor posted their fan theory that Eddie could be like Kas, a Dungeons and Dragons character who becomes a vampire. They wrote, "I was reading about Kas, who was Turned into a vampire after being eaten or swarmed by bats. This happened to our boy. Eddie also has a tattoo of bats on his forearm."
"The puppet-master tattoo was a nod to Vecna — how he controls people and pulls them up from the ground," Forsythe shared. "I had no idea 'Master of Puppets' was going to be played." As for the bats, those were more about Eddie's taste in music than his death. "The bats definitely were pulled from 1.
'Stranger Things': Eddie Munson Guitar Double Aidan Fisher Shares Behind the Scenes Images. Guitar-for-hire Aidan Fisher shares behind the scenes images of himself and Joseph Quinn from the set of 'Stranger Things. '
On the Happy Sad Confused podcast, the Duffer Brothers confirmed that Eddie is definitely dead and his death will have “huge repercussions” in season 5. However, vampires are technically dead. Joseph Quinn told Variety that he “wasn't optioned for another season” beside season 4.
In going over the fates of many major characters, the creators confirmed Max's fate at the end of the season, assuring Max is alive in Stranger Things, but is in a bad way. See what the Duffers explained below: “Right, she's braindead, but she's alive.
ICYMI, according to a popular theory a member of the subreddit r/FanTheories posited, Eddie could become infected by Vecna or The Upside Down, mirroring the transformation and position of Kas, an immortal vampire and a warrior that betrayed Vecna in the D&D game lore.
Eddie Is Learning to 'Let Go'
“He's back at the 118, and he's happier and healthier than before. Now he can focus on moving forward in a good way.” His home life, however, is another story. “We'll see him learning how to be the dad of a kid that's becoming their own person,” Reidel says.
Despite Max (Sadie Sink) being left in a coma at the end of season 4, she will be returning for season 5. The actress appeared on Today with Hoda and Jenna, where she opened up about the last season of the show. She told them why it was going to be 'sad and scary' explaining: "It's going to be awful.
High school seniors in the US are usually around 17-18 years old, and with Eddie being held back two years in a row, his age in March 1986 would likely be 20 years old.
It was Tala's hands that Eddie had felt right before his death; she was bringing him to heaven. Eddie felt himself be pulled away under water where all of his pain, weariness, scars and bad memories were washed away. He is lifted above a pier and finally rejoined with Marguerite.
Although the Duffer Brothers have confirmed that Eddie did in fact die, fans are still hopeful for his return.
Much like Bob before him, Eddie gets an entire character arc, and in the end, sacrifices himself to save the others, succumbing to the creatures from the Upside Down. During the battle against Vecna, it is Dustin and Eddie's responsibility to attract the deadly bats so that people can enter the "murder house" safely.
And while viewers were outraged by one character's death in particular, it turns out the Stranger Things creators themselves actually regret killing off the same person. Hey, in the world of the supernatural, who's to say death is final anyway?