Caleb McLaughlin breaks down that moving Max and Lucas scene on “Stranger Things 5”: 'He called action and the tears came down'
- - Caleb McLaughlin breaks down that moving Max and Lucas scene on “Stranger Things 5”: 'He called action and the tears came down'
Staff AuthorDecember 27, 2025 at 12:00 AM
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Courtesy of Netflix
Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink) and Lucas Sinclair (Caleb McLaughlin) on 'Stranger Things 5'Key Points -
Caleb McLaughlin goes behind the scenes of that emotional Max and Lucas moment in 'Stranger Things 5,' Volume 2.
"All of us on set were crying," director Shawn Levy says.
Laughlin on filming the scene: "He called action and then the tears came down."
Warning: This article contains spoilers from Stranger Things season 5, episode 7, "The Bridge."
Caleb McLaughlin has always known how to cry on cue. When you're a kid, everyone has their own little trick. Some are double-jointed, some can bend their thumb all the way back, others can roll their tongue. "My trick was to cry on cue," the actor behind Lucas Sinclair on Stranger Things tells Entertainment Weekly.
The trick came in handy for a particularly soul-stirring moment on season 5 episode "The Bridge," which premiered Dec. 25 as part of the Vol. 2 drop on Netflix.
In an attempt to draw Holly Wheeler (Nell Fisher) out of hiding, Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) sends demodogs to attack her friend Max Mayfield's (Sadie Sink) unconscious body in the waking world. The villain's plan has one major hitch: Lucas is watching over her.
He carries Max's body through the hospital and down to the basement, all while playing her favorite piece of music, Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill," on a portable radio to light her mind's way back home. By the end of this climactic sequence, which begins in episode 6, "Escape From Camazotz," and bleeds into the following chapter, Max wakes up and the two share a joyous, tear-drenched reunion.
"It was one of the most precious days I've ever had on the set," Shawn Levy, a producer on the series who directed episode 6 and co-directed episode 7, says. "When Caleb did his close-up, and I wanna say it was take 1, I couldn't say cut because my throat was so choked with emotion. Sadie and Caleb straight up delivered in that scene. All of us on set were crying."
Netflix
Caleb McLaughlin and Sadie Sink on 'Stranger Things 5'
McLaughlin's biggest memory is the lack of anticipation for this moment. He knew the Max-Lucas reunion would be a big deal for the show, the characters, and the fans at home, and he didn't want to overthink it.
"It was an emotion that I wanted to come naturally," he says, looking back on it all. "I have the honest privilege to be working with such an amazing actress to help me get to that level of emotion or an understanding of emotion."
McLaughlin charts Lucas' emotional arc leading up to this moment: the feelings of loss, helplessness, and desperation he felt when Max first entered the coma at the end of season 4, followed by the guilt that took hold of him in the months since. "The burden that he was holding, that maybe she's gone, maybe she hates him. He messed up. He was supposed to be there for her. He was supposed to protect her and he didn't," McLaughlin says.
Then, in these season 5 episodes, there's the renewed realization that she is coming back, and all he has to do is run down the clock before the demodogs come barking. "Now he's able to be there for her the way he always thought he would be and always was," the star adds.
In the room where it happened, which included Maya Hawke ("Rockin'" Robin Buckley), Vickie Dunne (Amybeth McNulty), and Cara Buono (Karen Wheeler), McLaughlin remembers a feeling wash over them. Levy asked if he needed some time to get into the moment, but the actor acknowledges, "I'm a Method actor in a different way. I can make a joke before a moment like that because that helps me. I feel like if I'm so serious prior, I won't be able to get into the emotion."
After a few seconds, the cameras started rolling. "He called action and then the tears came down," McLaughlin continues. "I do remember doing, like, one or two takes. I don't think we did many."
Courtesy of Netflix
Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas) and Priah Ferguson (Erica) on 'Stranger Things 5'
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The sequence just before this one in "Escape From Camazotz" was its own challenge, but one McLaughlin was eager to do as someone who loves the combat side of action-heavy projects. His job was to balance the acting of the demodog hospital chase with the physicality of carrying Sink in his arms from mark to mark.
"People would think it was a puppet or something like that, but it was Sadie," McLaughlin says. "It was a lot of takes. My arms were getting tired, not because she was heavy because she wasn't. It was how many times we had to do it. It was a great challenge, not just because I had to hold her, but also the fear of not trying to be caught by the demogorgons and also worrying about if she would hit her head or if I'm holding her correctly because she's in a coma, and still worrying if she's gonna wake up, but then also having that fearless energy, that bravery that Lucas possessed. He'll do anything for her."
This moment ranks high in McLaughlin's top moments for Lucas. He was 14 years old when Stranger Things premiered in July 15, 2016, and he remembers how the character started off as this goofy member of the group to developing a softer side for the new girl in town.
At the end of the day, McLaughlin, now 24, says, "I love that Lucas is a hero this season."
The Stranger Things series finale will now premiere in select theaters and on Netflix starting Dec. 31 at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
