‘Leave the World Behind’ Ending Explained: Author Rumaan Alam on the Significance of ‘Friends’ and the Accuracy of That Final Theory
variety.comCaroline Brew editor SPOILER ALERT: This story contains major spoilers for “Leave the World Behind,” now streaming on Netflix. “There was one ending that was really inevitable,” says Rumaan Alam, whose novel “Leave the World Behind” was the source material for Netflix’s latest apocalyptic thriller. “The key thing to look at … is that the book ends with a question mark.” Sam Esmail’s sci-fi feature adaptation makes a few diversions from the book, particularly in regards to the ending.
But according to Alam, who also serves as an executive producer on the film, these changes were “emotionally faithful to the book.” “Leave the World Behind” follows Amanda and Clay Sandford, played by Julia Roberts and Ethan Hawke, who bring their children Rose and Archie (Farrah Mackenzie and Charlie Evans) on a beach getaway.
Mahershala Ali plays G.H. Scott, the owner of the luxurious home the Sandfords are renting, who comes home with his daughter Ruth (Myha’la) to escape mysterious chaos occurring in the city.
The two families are then forced to exist — and survive — under the same roof as increasingly strange and apocalyptic events occur, including plane crashes, herds of deer filing into the backyard and Archie’s teeth mysteriously falling out.
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