Core Stranger Things character never went into the Upside Down in all five seasons

Stranger Things has finally ended after five seasons, but in this entire time, one of the core characters in the show never went into the Upside Down once.

After nine years, the Stranger Things finale came to a satisfying conclusion for many of us, tying up the lives of the characters who, as viewers, we’ve watched grow up on screen.

Despite some fans becoming convinced that this was a fake ending and they actually have a secret ninth episode to come, most have accepted that we’ve seen all we are going to get from the hit Netflix series.

The show’s final season did something pretty major too - it explained exactly what the Upside Down was and changed how everyone thought it worked.

Volume two of the final season revealed that the Upside Down was actually a wormhole to another dimension, The Abyss, where the Mind Flayer and Demogorgons are from.

Stranger Things ended with a two-hour-long finale (Netflix)

Throughout the show, Will, Nancy, Steve, Hopper, Joyce, and even Eddie Munson take a trip to the Upside Down, but one viral Reddit thread has pointed out a major name missing from the list.

Posted to the Stranger Things subreddit, fans realised that Max never made the trip to the Upside Down in all five seasons of the show.

They posted this with a caption claiming it was a ‘Mandela Effect’ due to the number of scenes she spent in Vecna’s mind in season four and five.

Despite this, though, the character, played by Sadie Sink and introduced all the way back in season two, never physically goes to the actual Upside Down.

One popular comment actually pointed out that only ten named characters had actually been to the Upside Down prior to season five, with Mike and Lucas not being on that list.

Lucas only actually went into the Upside Down right at the end of the series for the first time.

Max never actually went into the Upside Down (Netflix)

This fact shocked many of the fans, with one saying: “Wait really?? This is blowing my mind.”

Another fan commented however, pointing out that this isn’t even the wildest observation you can make.

They said: “There’s a lot of things that didn’t happen. For example, only Will, Henry, and Billy ever saw the real mind flayer [in its original Shadow form]. No one else will ever see it because the wormhole is destroyed.”

Another fan pointed out that by spending time in Camazotz, Max joins an almost more exclusive club.

Ignoring Holly, Derek, and the 10 unnamed kids, only Kali and Eleven have spent any time there, and she was there far longer than anyone else on the show.

Ultimately, Stranger Things had so many characters that there were always going to be missed opportunities.

Whether it be Max in the Upside Down, Eleven seeing the real Mind Flayer, or Steve and Will having any actual interactions, we will never really know what it would have been like.