'Stranger Things': Sadie Sink reel mom opens up about absence from season five

Stranger Things star Jennifer Marshall revealed that a return in season 5 could have secured her health insurance during her ongoing cancer battle.

Best known for her role as Max’s mom, Susan Hargrove, Marshall took to Instagram on Tuesday, January 6 to share a short video clip with her fans.

She shared that reprising her role in the final season would have done more than bring closure to fans.

It would have helped her qualify for union health insurance while fighting cancer.

Marshall, a U.S. Navy veteran, was diagnosed with stage 3 cancer in 2022 after her stage 1 foot cancer spread to her lymph nodes.

She managed to film season 4 while undergoing treatment, but during the filming of season 5 she was in remission.

“I had cancer, I get it. But I was in remission during the shooting of season five. Shooting would have helped me obtain my health insurance through the union,” Marshall wrote in the caption of the post.

“Maybe they had too many characters, idk but obv Susan Hargrove is THE WORST MOTHER EVER LMAO.”

She tagged the video as “#cancersucks #butwhy.”

There have been discussions over why Susan Hargrove was missing during Max’s hospitalization and graduation scenes.

Marshall herself joked in the same video clip, “How often I think about where TF Max’s mom was during season five lmao.”

“Every day. Not all day, every day but every day.”

Even Sadie Sink, who plays Max, previously offered her own theory suggesting Susan may have disappeared or died during the rift at the end of Season 4.