‘Stranger Things 4’ Fans Are Outraged Over Sadie Sink’s Emmys Snub — Here’s Why They’re Right
It’s official: Stranger Things Season 4 Volume 1 has 13 Emmy nominations. But, in what seems to be the most shocking Emmys snub of the year, Sadie Sink is not attached to a single one of those nods. The 20-year-old actor stood out in this season of the Netflix series, as it focused heavily on her character in a way that Stranger Things never did before. Many fans and critics have praised Sink for delivering the best performance of her career. And yet, the Emmys failed to recognize her. Here’s why the outrage over her snub is completely justified.
Many ‘Stranger Things 4’ fans have expressed disappointment over Sadie Sink’s Emmys snub
The Television Academy announced 2022’s Emmy nominations on Tuesday, July 12. Stranger Things received nods for Best Drama Series, music, production design, editing, and more. However, none of the nominations recognized the Netflix show’s outstanding cast members.
Many fans felt especially shocked that Sink did not receive a nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. Her name trended on Twitter following the announcement — and many of those tweets also included the word “robbed.”
“The fact that Stranger Things didn’t get a single acting Emmy nomination is robbery,” one fan tweeted. “It’s like they were blind to Sadie Sink’s PHENOMENAL performance in every season since she was introduced.”
“Sadie Sink single handily revived the hit ‘Running Up That Hill,’ garnering it a new generation of fans, and catapulted her character Max as a force in the Stranger Things franchise just to be snubbed by the Emmys,” another account shared.
One fan has demanded a “good reason” why Sink did not receive a nomination. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be one. Only the first seven episodes of Stranger Things 4 qualified for this year’s Emmys because Netflix released them before the May 31 cutoff date. The final two episodes arrived on July 1. However, some of Sink’s best moments this season came in episode 4: “Dear Billy.”
Sadie Sink deserves an Emmy nomination after ‘Dear Billy’
“Dear Billy” focused on Sink’s character, Max Mayfield, as she became a target of the evil Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower). In order to escape Vecna’s curse, Max had to face her trauma following her older brother’s death and accept support from her loved ones. The emotional episode climaxed with a dramatic scene of Max escaping the Upside Down to the tune of Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God).”
Interestingly enough, “Dear Billy” received Emmy nods for stunt performance, music, editing, and prosthetics. All of those elements were incredible in this episode, but one thing tied it all together: Sink’s acting. “Running Up That Hill” became so popular because of the way fans associated it with Max’s epic and emotional escape. Viewers could feel Max’s fear as she came face to face with Bower’s Vecna in all his prosthetics.
That scene in “Dear Billy” also took plenty of imagination on Sink’s part, as it involved visual effects everywhere. She faced the challenge of acting opposite Dacre Montgomery, who played her brother Billy, when he wasn’t physically on set. Sink also had to act as though she could see her friends in the distance, calling to her from another realm. And she had to look as though she were running miles through an evil villain’s lair, when really it was just a few feet of mud. Visual effects and Sink’s acting went hand in hand to make all of that believable.
Sadie Sink carried ‘the most emotional weight’ she’s ever had in ‘Stranger Things 4’
Sink also had the challenge of taking her emotions to a new level in Stranger Things 4. She recently told The Hollywood Reporter that she had to “carry the most emotional weight” she’s ever needed to on this show. That’s quite a big task for a young and reasonably new actor. She said that work on a recent film (which she didn’t name) helped her tap into those deeper emotions. Sink explained:
“On that movie, I really unlocked something and kind of just discovered the different ways and what I need to kind of get to that emotional state and that level of vulnerability. So I kind of pulled from everything I learned from that set and applied it to Max, as a totally different character, but to her and her circumstances. I really just think about the character and especially for a character like Max that I’ve been with for a while, it’s easy for me to get into that mindset.”
Hopefully, Sink will be recognized for her emotion in the Stranger Things 4 finale when Volume 2 becomes eligible for the Emmys next year. For now, fans can see how Volume 1 fares at the 74th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sept. 12.
