{"id":2483488,"date":"2026-07-01T13:49:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T13:49:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2483488"},"modified":"2026-07-01T13:49:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T13:49:16","slug":"sadie-sink-on-spider-man-theater-life-after-stranger-things","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/sadie-sink-on-spider-man-theater-life-after-stranger-things\/","title":{"rendered":"Sadie Sink On \u2018Spider-Man,\u2019 Theater & Life After \u2018Stranger Things\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

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It\u2019s impossible to miss Sadie Sink \u2014 her fiery beach waves are so instantly recognizable that they can pierce through even the brightest of sunny days. She tucks herself into the plush corner booth of a French eatery in Notting Hill and orders an iced matcha latte with coconut milk, without so much as a glance at the menu. She doesn\u2019t need to check: She\u2019s been committing the neighborhood to memory for about a year, frequenting the same Pilates studios, shops, and restaurants, and settling into a familiar daily routine that, unlike most area residents, typically ends on the adrenaline-fueled high of performing Romeo & Juliet <\/em>on the West End.<\/p>\n

If Sink has been growing accustomed to the rhythms of London life, something she\u2019s still coming to grips with is the town\u2019s infamous weather. When we meet, we\u2019re at the tail end of a heat wave that has been holding the city hostage. \u201cI\u2019m dealing with the lack of AC,\u201d says Sink, who was born in central Texas. \u201cGod<\/em>, it\u2019s been a journey.\u201d I\u2019d seen Sink in the play the previous week, conveniently at what might\u2019ve been the absolute worst time to spend three hours in a 150-year-old theater that\u2019s unequipped for the heat, with glasses of wine turning lukewarm long before intermission and audience members using used programs as makeshift fans. \u201cLast week was tough, because I could feel the audience just draining and draining and draining as it went on,\u201d Sink says. \u201cI was like, \u2018Oh God, please, guys, stay with us. I\u2019m here with you, I promise!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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Conner Ives clothing; Stylist\u2019s own boxers; Pebble London rings.<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Sink, 24, first arrived in London last summer and simply decided to stay put. Before she knew it, her cats, Fifi and Pippin, had joined her in Notting Hill. At the time, she had just completed her acclaimed turn in the Broadway play John Proctor Is the Villain<\/em>, which earned her a Tony nomination, and hopped on a plane across the Atlantic to shoot Spider-Man: Brand New Day <\/em>in the U.K. Then came the conclusion of Stranger Things<\/em>, which had been the one constant in Sink\u2019s life for nearly a decade. So how do you follow up a breakout role on one of the definitive shows of the streaming era? For Sink, the answer was to double down on the stage, where her career first began as a child actress in an Annie <\/em>revival on Broadway. So far, it\u2019s been a healing homecoming for her, the kickoff to what you \u2014 and she \u2014 might call Sadie Sink\u2019s Year of Recalibration.<\/p>\n

Sink felt ready to part ways with Max Mayfield, the character that had been at the epicenter of her life for four seasons of Stranger Things<\/em> \u2014 though that made the moment no less pivotal. She didn\u2019t feel emotional when she and her fellow castmates first sat in a theater to watch the finale together, but when the episode hit Netflix on New Year\u2019s Eve, the reality hit her. \u201cI was watching it with my brother and he started crying and then I started crying,\u201d she says. Caleb McLaughlin, who plays Max\u2019s boyfriend, Lucas, had also joined them. \u201cHe was looking at us like, \u2018Are you guys crying<\/em>?!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just completely bittersweet,\u201d she says. Sink had, after all, grown up with Max and the rest of the cast. \u201cIt\u2019s been 10 years. It\u2019s seen us through so many different phases of our lives. All good things must end.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Dilara Findikoglu dress; Pebble London arm cuff.<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Sink\u2019s time as a temporary Londoner will soon come to an end too. \u201cIt\u2019s felt like such a chapter, being in London and really feeling like I\u2019ve made a home for myself here,\u201d she says. Once Romeo & Juliet<\/em>\u2019s run concludes in a few short weeks, she\u2019ll pack up her things \u2014 and her felines \u2014 and head back to New York. \u201cSo to leave it and go back to my actual home, I\u2019m like, \u2018Wait, I don\u2019t know\u2026 \u2019\u201d she says, her voice trailing off slightly mournfully. \u201cBut it\u2019ll be good. I miss my home. The cats are ready to go back. They\u2019re telling me all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Sink first touched down here, her initial plan was to stay in town for the length of the Spider-Man <\/em>shoot, but then Romeo & Juliet <\/em>came calling. \u201cI was in no way on the market to do another play,\u201d Sink says, until she met with director and playwright Robert Icke, who has been called \u201cthe great hope of British theater.\u201d \u201cI really thought after I finished the last one: \u2018I\u2019m going to take a break.\u2019\u201d Icke persuaded her to give the play a shot; in turn, she suggested she audition for him, as he\u2019d never seen her work before (not even Stranger Things<\/em>). \u201cI was never really drawn to Juliet as a character, and I just pictured her fawning over a balcony, which is fine,\u201d she says, summoning her former skepticism. \u201cI was just like, \u2018Is there much there?\u2019\u201d Sink then spent the fall ping-ponging between the Spider-Man <\/em>set and intensely studying the text with Icke. \u201cThe juxtaposition was nice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew Marvel was a big deal, but it feels really<\/i> big. These blockbuster movies are a whole different beast.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In that time, she discovered she had underestimated Juliet. \u201cShe soliloquizes a lot,\u201d Sink continues. \u201cShe\u2019s talking a lot, and I was really drawn to the fact that she has such a rich inner world, and that\u2019s clear in all of her soliloquies. She has these really big ideas, yet she lives in isolation for the most part, so she\u2019s clearly developed this resilience and emotional intelligence and had to be her own entertainment and friend.\u201d Falling headfirst for Romeo, Sink explains, provides an outlet for the enormous feelings she\u2019s had to keep contained to herself. \u201cAs someone who spends a lot of time alone, I was like, \u2018Oh, actually, I relate to that a lot.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Icke\u2019s modern retelling of the Shakespearean romance takes a Sliding Doors<\/em>-style structure: At critical junctures in the story, scenes play out twice with slight changes to imagine whether the young lovers\u2019 tragic fate could\u2019ve been avoided had they made different choices. There\u2019s also a distinctly adolescent energy to the dynamic between Sink\u2019s Juliet and her Romeo, played by Hamnet <\/em>and A Quiet Place <\/em>star Noah Jupe. The centerpiece of the production\u2019s sparse set is a king-size bed, where Juliet throws herself to scream into her pillow and kick her feet in glee as love consumes her. \u201cYou have to remember, even though it is a beautiful love story \u2014 the greatest one ever told, one might say \u2014 you want to sell it as so romantic and that they\u2019re so meant to be, but when you\u2019re actually falling in love for the first time and you\u2019re a teenager, it\u2019s torture,\u201d Sink says, practically quoting her All Too Well: The Short Film <\/em>collaborator Taylor Swift.<\/p>\n

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Marni top; Pebble London ring.<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

John Proctor <\/em>and now Romeo & Juliet <\/em>are the first theater roles Sink has taken on in 10 years \u2014 nearly half a lifetime ago in her case. As a kid, acting had been in her crosshairs ever since she obsessed over classic Disney Channel shows like That\u2019s So Raven <\/em>and Good Luck Charlie<\/em>. Once Sink proved to her parents that she was serious about acting professionally through local and regional productions, the family moved the 1,700 miles to New Jersey, where they settled as Sink cut her teeth as a child star on Broadway.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am filled with so much rage when I see, like, three iPhones in the audience.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

At first, she thrived. Then, toward the end of her run in the title role of Annie<\/em>, pulling off eight shows a week, she would experience unsettling feelings onstage that she lacked the vocabulary to describe. She realized later in life that they were panic attacks. \u201cAs a 10-year-old, it\u2019s enough to scare you away from ever putting yourself in a situation that\u2019s going to trigger that kind of reaction again, which it did,\u201d Sink says. \u201cAnd mainly with singing. I was like, \u2018I don\u2019t really have any interest in singing onstage anymore.\u2019\u201d Times have changed: Now multiple children are cast in the same role in major theater productions.<\/p>\n

John Proctor Is the Villain<\/em> \u2014 playwright Kimberly Belflower\u2019s Tony-nominated modern take on Arthur Miller\u2019s The Crucible<\/em> \u2014 was a test of whether Sink could overcome that once-debilitating fear. \u201cI had so much fun on that show, and it was so rewarding in so many ways,\u201d says Sink (who will executive-produce its upcoming film adaptation<\/a>). \u201cIt really did break the ice for me getting back into theater.\u201d Still, she tells me that she \u201cheld back a little bit\u201d as she refamiliarized herself with performing onstage.<\/p>\n

That, at least in part, is why last year\u2019s Tony nomination came as such a surprise. Her older brother Mitchell tried to prepare her: The pair are die-hard theater nerds who treat awards season as sport, and the night before nominations, like every year, he ran through his ballot. \u201cHe was like, \u2018OK, and so for Leading Actor in a Play, these are my predictions,\u2019\u201d Sink says. \u201cThen he said my name, and I was like, \u2018Don\u2019t put mine.\u2019 He was like, \u2018No, Sadie, you\u2019re probably going to get it.\u2019\u201d The unwavering confidence he had in his prediction gave her a glimmer of hope that it might actually happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was so exciting just because I love the Tonys, I love theater,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019ve never been nominated for any kind of award like that. For the first time that happens, for it to be the Tonys \u2014 it feels really important to me and very unexpected.\u201d It was validation that, despite struggling initially, she was doing something right by returning to theater. \u201cIt was a new space, or a space that I was rediscovering. I felt a lot more sensitive or vulnerable. So to have that recognition, after having gone through the whole spiral of self-doubt and \u2018Oh my God, am I even good at this,\u2019 felt like.. oh!<\/em> OK!\u201d<\/p>\n

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Dilara Findikoglu dress; Pebble London arm cuff; Rellik Vintage shoes.<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re letting real parts of yourself bleed out. To switch it off and go and meet fans afterwards, it shocked my system a bit.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If John Proctor <\/em>was a test run with stakes equivalent to cycling on a cliff edge with training wheels, Romeo & Juliet <\/em>is where she fell back into the groove. Sink says she knew she \u201ccould take it a step further\u201d by acting in a show that\u2019s twice as long and packed with denser language, and yet she managed to \u201creach a complete level of comfort onstage that I only really tapped into towards the end of the run of the last play I did. And I think I found that on the first couple performances of Romeo & Juliet<\/em>. I really felt so collected.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sink had officially fallen in love with being onstage again. \u201cI think theater will always be a priority for me,\u201d she says. \u201cI love filming TV, too, and there\u2019s so many things that I want to do in that space as well, but I think the work that I have [accomplished] just in the last two plays that I\u2019ve done, it feels like\u201d \u2014 she takes a beat to think \u2014 \u201cI don\u2019t know, it just feels right.\u201d So it wasn\u2019t just the sunshine that made Sink appear lighter. When she laughs, every facial muscle is put to work: Her smile stretches wide, her eyes squeeze shut. There\u2019s a delight \u2014 a giddiness \u2014 to it.<\/p>\n

Not that Sink will be leaving screens anytime soon. This summer brings her into the Spider-Man <\/em>universe, which, unsurprisingly, she can say very little about. Sink\u2019s role remains a closely guarded secret that she has had no trouble keeping, what with nine years of experience in hiding Stranger Things <\/em>spoilers. (\u201cYou just don\u2019t share the secret, it\u2019s not that hard,\u201d she says, laughing.) Sometimes even she wasn\u2019t privy to the details: Sink was offered her role without an audition, having worked with director Destin Daniel Cretton on the 2017 film The Glass Castle<\/em>, and she didn\u2019t receive a script until she landed in London.<\/p>\n

When young stars are brought into the fold of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it\u2019s often something you have to prepare for. A higher-up typically sits you down to tell you that soon the ground will shift beneath your feet as your life irrevocably changes forever. But Sink, despite her youth, is in a unique position where stratospheric propulsion is almost old hat. Or at least oldish hat: Being at the center of a speculative storm of fan theories around Sink\u2019s character has still been eye-opening. \u201cI knew that Marvel was a big deal and had a big brand, especially Spider-Man,\u201d she says. \u201cI know there\u2019s a huge fan base, but it feels really<\/em> big. I think these blockbuster movies are a whole different beast.\u201d<\/p>\n

She credits costar Tom Holland with helping orient her. \u201cIt was interesting stepping into that space and being a little bit of an outsider in that way, but he could not have been more welcoming, and just the whole crew in general,\u201d she says. \u201cHe was just so relaxed and open, and I felt very at ease.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Conner Ives clothing; Stylist\u2019s own boxers; Pebble London rings.<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cTo have that recognition, after having gone through the whole spiral of self-doubt and \u2018Oh my God, am I even good at this,\u2019 felt like.. oh!<\/em> OK!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The fame side of it all has been more familiar to Sink, who\u2019s navigated it under the watchful eye of her 32 million Instagram followers. She\u2019s been learning to set boundaries for years: It\u2019s not uncommon for fans to turn up to the stage door of the Harold Pinter Theatre before the show as well as afterward.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been thinking a lot about it recently because on the last play I did [John Proctor Is the Villain<\/em>], I was able to do stage door every single night, and it wasn\u2019t an issue for me,\u201d Sink says. \u201cI really liked meeting people and fans after the show. And for this one, I did it for the first couple of weeks, and then I just couldn\u2019t. This might not make any sense, but I think what it was is: I\u2019d be onstage and showing very real parts of myself. It\u2019s secret, but it\u2019s very real, and I think I can be really guarded in real life. And so when I have permission to let those guards down, and you\u2019re there with 800 people, but you\u2019re just letting real parts of yourself bleed out \u2014 to switch it off and go and meet fans afterwards, it shocked my system a bit to put all those guards back up.\u201d<\/p>\n

She\u2019s also, frankly, usually exhausted after exerting herself via soliloquies for three hours. Her reliable method for decompressing after a long show is, she tells me sheepishly, a mindless TikTok scroll. \u201cOnce I decide to delete it, I have no withdrawals, I\u2019m OK,\u201d she reasons. \u201cBut when it is on my phone, it\u2019s just pure entertainment.\u201d Thankfully, her rabbit holes are far from the brain-rot corners of the internet. (Her last one was orcas.)<\/p>\n

I ask Sink how she has found theater etiquette during her time on the West End. For the most part, audiences have been well-behaved, but it\u2019s the swiftness with which everyone grabs their phone at curtain call that stuns her. The knife is still plunged into Juliet\u2019s abdomen when Sink hears the telltale shuffling in seats. \u201cThe lights go off, and then I just see all these faces in the audience because everyone is turning their phone on,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m like, \u2018Guys, give it a minute. Take it in for a second!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Sometimes, the cameras are up long before. \u201cI am filled with so much rage when I see, like, three iPhones in the audience,\u201d Sink says \u2014 though she\u2019s cognizant that she used to be one of those fans who escaped to her bedroom to devour bootlegs online. (Or \u201cslime tutorials,\u201d as she\u2019s well aware they go by now.) \u201cThey raised me, those bootlegs, and inspired me so much. That\u2019s why we need to make theater very accessible, so that everyone can go in and see it, but also people from all over the world. That wasn\u2019t accessible to me in Texas, so I get it, but wait for the pro-shot.\u201d<\/p>\n

After spending the better part of a year settling into well-oiled routines, Sink doesn\u2019t know what\u2019s ahead of her when she gets home to New York beyond a house that\u2019s been sitting dormant for too long and a garden she\u2019s excited to tend to. For now, she\u2019s focused on today: She\u2019ll dip into the nearby bookstore to pick up a book she ordered \u2014 A<\/em> Lover’s Discourse: Fragments<\/em> by French theorist Roland Barthes \u2014 and then it\u2019s back to the theater, for one more round of falling in love and swallowing the fear.<\/p>\n

Top image credit: Marni clothing, socks and shoes; Pebble London ring.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Photographer: Elliot James Kennedy<\/em><\/p>\n

Stylist: Phoebe Lettice Thompson<\/em><\/p>\n

Writer: Iana Murray<\/em><\/p>\n

Editor-in-Chief: Lauren McCarthy<\/em><\/p>\n

Creative Director: Karen Hibbert<\/em><\/p>\n

Hair: Halley Brisker<\/em><\/p>\n

Makeup: Mary Wiles<\/em><\/p>\n

Manicurist: Chisato Yamamoto<\/em><\/p>\n

Video: Chloe Pemberton<\/em><\/p>\n

Photo Director: Jackie Ladner<\/em><\/p>\n

Production: Lock Studios<\/em><\/p>\n

Fashion Market Director: Jennifer Yee<\/em><\/p>\n

Fashion: Stephanie Sanchez, Ashirah Curry, Noelia Rojas-West<\/em><\/p>\n

Features Director: Nolan Feeney<\/em><\/p>\n

Social Director: Charlie Mock<\/em><\/p>\n

Talent Bookings: Special Projects<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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