Jordan Peele has spoken about the ending of his latest film, Us, explaining his decision to include the final twist.
We would love to tell you more, but we want to be absolutely sure we’re not going to spoil it for you.
So if you haven’t seen Us yet, this is your final warning. We’re going to put a lovely picture of Lupita Nyong’o, and then we’re going to keep writing, OK?
OK.
So, as you will hopefully have seen by now, Us ends with the revelation that Lupita Nyongo’s character, Adelaide, had actually been one of the “Tethered” all along.
Meanwhile the person we came to know as Red was actually seeking vengeance for having been taken away from the world she knew as a child and held underground for most of her life.
Speaking on the Empire podcast, director Jordan Peele explained he included this twist as it played into the idea that “the monster is you”.
“[The film is] about us, looking at ourselves as individuals and as a group,” he said. “The protagonist in the movie is the surrogate for the audience, so it felt like at the end of the day, I wasn’t doing my core theme any justice if I wasn’t revealing that we have been the bad guy in this movie. We’ve been following the villain.
“I say villain lightly because I think there are many experiences of the film, and I think a lot of people go through a question of what is good and evil? Does that even exist? Both characters are lovable and terrifying, based on the lives they’ve led they’ve just sort of inverted the paths.”
Us first arrived in cinemas last month, and has already proved to be another huge hit for its director, who was nominated for an Academy Award last year for his directorial debut, Get Out.
As well as winning rave reviews, Us has also broken records, with the highest-grossing opening weekend for a horror film ever in the US.
Listen to Jordan Peele’s full Empire interview here.