Stranger Things Mom Was Surprised Not to Be Asked Back

Max's mom was missing from Stranger Things' final season—and the woman who plays her says the absence had real-world consequences. Jennifer Marshall, who portrayed Susan Hargrove in Seasons 2 and 4, says a brief return in Season 5 could have helped her qualify for SAG-AFTRA health coverage while she was recovering from cancer, Deadline reports. "I had cancer, I get it. But I was in remission during the shooting of season five," she wrote on Instagram, adding that working those episodes "would have helped me obtain my health insurance through the union."

Marshall, a Navy veteran who has been open about her cancer battle, joked about fan theories on why her character vanished while Max was hospitalized. "Maybe they had too many characters, idk," she wrote, quipping that the omission made Susan look like "THE WORST MOTHER EVER LMAO." She told People that the role was the "opportunity of a lifetime" and she would have been "ecstatic" to return. "It would have helped me not only financially, but would have been a mental and emotional uplift after battling cancer for almost two years," she said.

Still, Marshall stressed she didn't feel owed the job. "No one is entitled to a role, cancer or not," she said. "My heart remains grateful, and I will always give those involved in the decision-making the benefit of the doubt." She tells Variety that while she was "surprised" not to be asked back, her Instagram post wasn't meant to be mean-spirited. "I just made the reel as a funny thing and it blew up," she said. "I hold no ill will toward anyone and just wish things would have gone a different way." On the series, Susan last appeared in Season 4, battling alcoholism and trying to support Max in a Hawkins trailer park.

In a 2022 Facebook post, Marshall said she was overwhelmed by the "kindness and compassion" Sadie Sink, who played Max, showed after she disclosed that she was fighting cancer during filming. She said show creators Matt and Ross Duffer were also very supportive. With Stranger Things now wrapped, Netflix plans to release a behind-the-scenes special, One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5, on Jan. 12. The CBC notes that Netflix appeared to push back against conspiracy theories about a secret final episode this week, updating social media accounts to say: "All episodes of Stranger Things are now playing."