If there’s one thing people can’t stop losing their minds over this week, it’s Leave The World Behind ending that has left the viewers divided. Netflix’s latest apocalyptic thriller stars renowned names such as Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke, and Mahershala Ali which is based on a book by author Rumaan Alam.
Leave The World Behind Plot
Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke portray Amanda and Clay Sandford, with their children Rose and Archie (Farrah Mackenzie and Charlie Evans) joining them on a summer vacation to the beach.
Mahershala Ali portrays G.H. Scott, who is the owner of the lavish residence the Sandfords have leased out. He returns home, accompanied by his daughter Ruth (Myha’la), to evade the strange tumult transpiring in the city.
The two households must continue to live together as more and more bizarre and apocalyptic scenarios take place, such as airplane crashes, a group of deer charging into the backyard, and Archie’s teeth inexplicably dropping out.
Desperately seeking assistance for Archie, G.H. and Danny travel to meet the conspiracy theorist Danny (Kevin Bacon). After Danny consents to help them, a worrying confrontation leads G.H. to believe these happenings could be an effort by the military to cause unrest in a country by making its citizens fight one another.
Therefore, to survive, he deduces that both families must remain in the underground shelter in his neighbor’s dwelling.
When Amanda and Ruth are looking for Rose in the backyard, they suddenly stop as they witness the explosions that are occurring in the city. Although there is a theory, neither the movie nor the original material provides a definite answer.
The movie concludes with Rose discovering the neighbor’s bunker, and more importantly, a DVD with the last season of Friends. When the Rembrandts’ theme song, “I’ll Be There For You” starts to play over the ending credits, Rose has already taken supplies from the neighbor’s house that she intends to bring back to her family.
Leave The World Behind Ending Explained
Alam had a conversation with Variety to discuss the impact of the unknown, the accuracy of G.H.’s description, and why he chose not to provide a definitive ending for the characters.
While discussing Leave The World Behind ending, Alam expressed his appreciation for director Sam Esmail for ending the movie with a “jolt of humor”.
To end with the particular jolt of humor that [Sam] does is so satisfying and so rewarding. It’s sort of self-reflective because he’s a filmmaker. He’s also worked in television, and he’s sort of asserting something about the power of that medium, and its hold over this one character.”
Alam further added that Leave The World Behind ending wasn’t a joke on anyone, the character, the audience, or the show Friends.
“I say it’s funny, but I don’t think it’s a joke. I don’t think it’s a joke on Rose. I don’t think it’s a joke on the audience. I don’t think it’s a joke on “Friends.” It’s a reminder that art is kind of a salve.”
He also expressed how he loved to see the reaction of the audience to Leave The World Behind ending in the theatres.
“The theatrical experience of watching this movie is so powerful because I’ve had the chance to see audiences respond to the ending three times now, and nobody really knows what to make of it. They’re like, is this funny? Is this scary? Is it really over? And I love that so much.”
When Ruhaan Alam was asked about what happened to Ruth and Amanda in Leave The World Behind ending, he said,
In the film, they set that timer, and so there’s a literal ticking clock, and we hear the timer alarm go off. That’s the last moment we’re with Ruth and Amanda. And the last thing that G.H. has said is we’ve got to go to that bunker.”
Alam said that he isn’t aware of what is going to happen to either of the cast members but he has faith in G.H. Scott’s character to work out a solution.
You as a viewer may say, “Oh, they’re not going to make it.” But I have this vision of G.H. as so competent, and I feel like he’s solved every problem. But I don’t know what’s going to happen to Archie. The truth is that I don’t know.
All the fans who have been waiting for answers for Leave The World Behind ending might be disappointed to hear that the author of the book also has no definitive answers.
This is something I’ve heard Sam say a lot, that he also doesn’t know. But this is open enough that it becomes something that is possessed by its audience. I’m not withholding a definitive answer because I’m not in possession of that.
