'A Quiet Place: Day One' Director Explains The Ending & Why [SPOILER] Died That Way

The new movie A Quiet Place: Day One has been scaring audiences at cinemas across the world for the past week and audiences haven’t been able to stop talking about that shocking ending.

Lupita Nyong’o and Joseph Quinn star in the new film, which lets viewers experience the day the world went quiet.

Lupita plays Sam, a woman battling terminal cancer who is trying to survive the apocalypse with her emotional support cat. Joseph plays Eric, a man who is also on his own trying to survive and decides to stick out with Sam.

So, what happens in the end? And what did director Michael Sarnoski have to say about that ending?

Keep reading to find out more…

The rest of this post contains major spoilers, so beware of reading further!

In the end, Sam and Eric attempt to reach the evacuation point in New York City to get on a boat off the island. As they’re approaching the pier, the Death Angel monsters surround the bay and make it impossible for them to reach the water together.

Sam decides to sacrifice herself and distracts the monsters while Eric runs for the water with her cat Frodo. He makes it onto the boat alive.

In the final moment of the movie, Sam walks through the streets of New York City and listens to the song “Feeling Good” on her headphones. She unplugs the headphones and lets the music play outloud. We see a monster pop up behind her and the movie fades to black, implying that she has died.

The director has explained the ending in a new interview.

“That was an essential part of the film. I mean, you know that in order to do justice to the character and what she’s going through, [the movie] has to somehow end like that. I think the biggest task for me with this project was to find a way to have that ending but not make it feel the way [it appears in the script]. On paper, it feels bleak and sad, just like the end of the world is, but in practice and in how you experience it, I wanted [the ending] to feel somehow triumphant and life-affirming,” Michael told DiscussingFilm.

He added, “Sam takes back her agency and her joy, and I think trying to feel that way while you’re seeing [her choose to die on her own terms] was kind of the fun challenge of it. I was excited by what many people would think is a risky ending, and hopefully, we pulled it off. I’m happy with it. I feel that way when I watch it. But it’s a tricky one, it’s definitely risky.”

Michael also told Variety, “That’s very much what we were going for — this idea that a dying person who had counted themselves out of life is finding a new light in the apocalypse, in the depth of the world around them. There’s this unexpected journey of when everything’s crumbling and everything seems to be ending, Sam manages to find one last little moment to cherish and enjoy and some last bit of connection in the world. If the world hadn’t ended, she never would have gotten to have that ending for herself.”

Check out photos of the cast at the recent NYC premiere!