The ending of Outside on Netflix, explained

Sid Lucero as Francis in the movie Outside | Image source: Netflix Asia on YouTube
Sid Lucero as Francis in the movie Outside | Image source: Netflix Asia on YouTube

Outside, directed by Carlo Ledesma, is a Philippine drama horror film set in a post-apocalyptic world where people are trying to survive a zombie outrage. The story is based on a family of four. Francis, his wife Iris, and their two sons Joshua and Lucas, somehow escape the attack and end up at the father's ancestral home located on the city outskirts.

The movie had a global release on Netflix on October 17, 2024, and the principal photography took place on the Negros Island of the Philippines. With an element of horror along with action, Outside has reportedly portrayed thrilling zombie adventures.

Sid Lucero along with his co-star Beauty Gonzalez have played the lead roles of Francis and Iris respectively. Among others in the cast, we have Marco Masa as Joshua, Aiden Tyler Patdu as Lucas, and James Blanco as Diego.

At the end of the movie, as Francis learns a harrowing truth about his wife Iris and brother Diego, he is left in pieces. Amidst the attacks from the zombies at the farmhouse and his family's lives at stake, Francis tries to fight off the evil in a state of despair. In the process of protecting his family and sending them to a safe haven, he gets shot to death.

Following the movie's release, there has been a lot of speculation on the storyline - what happens at the end and what fate awaits the misery-struck family. The official synopsis of the movie reads,

"A family trying to outrun the zombie outbreak by returning to the father's childhood farmhouse, fortifying to keep out 'The Dead Ones'. Alas, there is just as much horror and trauma at the ancestral home as there is outside the gates."

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for the movie Outside. Please be advised.


What happens at the end of Outside?

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Following a zombie outbreak in the city, Francis along with his family takes shelter in his ancestral home, a farmhouse on the outskirts. Once the family reaches, they learn that a lot has happened. Francis's father had died by suicide after being infected and his mother was already transformed into a zombie.

A desperate Francis had to kill his mother to let his family settle peacefully. But the trauma of Francis's childhood spent at the house haunts him and his wife cheating on him with his brother Diego leaves him devastated.

Through multiple attempts to reach another safe haven and avoid attacks from zombies, the family goes through a lot. Francis does not want to leave the house when his brother Diego informs them about a safe place with a map.

Eventually, as the movie approaches its end, Diego gets infected and Joshua (disgusted with his father's actions) escapes, while Lucas and Iris are confined to the basement by a paranoid Francis.

Iris hurts Francis and manages to leave with Lucas. In a final face-off, Francis accidentally gets shot by Joshua and dies. The movie Outside ends on a dramatic note as we reportedly witness a dying Francis accepting Joshua as his son, who then takes his mother and brother to safety.


Why did Francis not want to leave his ancestral farmhouse?

A scene from the basement of the farmhouse in Outside | Image source: Netflix Asia on YouTube
A scene from the basement of the farmhouse in Outside | Image source: Netflix Asia on YouTube

Francis wants to fortify the farmhouse and turn it into a safe haven, a place the family could call their new home. But the haunting memories from Francis's childhood and the involvement of his brother with his wife make him paranoid. He starts a venture to quarantine his family and confine them to the house.

They barely have anything to eat and would soon run out of food, so looking for a new safe place would be the only option.

When Diego wants to help them, Francis drives him off and does not reveal the map he had for finding a better location. When he comes to know that the zombies are getting weaker he even stages a fake attack and guards the mansion to make it look like things are still bad 'outside'.

Suffering from paranoia, Francis refuses to take his family anywhere else as he feels like Iris is not in love with him anymore and Joshua is also not his biological son. He wants the family to stay together as much as possible and the sense of protection makes him do things to prove that everywhere 'outside' is unsafe.


What is the final fate of Francis and his family in Outside?

Francis and his family in the movie Outside | Image source: Netflix Asia on YouTube
Francis and his family in the movie Outside | Image source: Netflix Asia on YouTube

As we see towards the end of Outside, Diego is driven away by Francis as the former is trying to provide a map that has locations marked as safe spots. Francis wants to protect his family all by himself and thus, tries to lock them up inside the house. Joshua, frustrated with his father, leaves the farmhouse, and Iris and Lucas are locked in the basement by Francis.

As Iris finds a way to escape from the clutches of his paranoid husband, she stabs him in a face-off and then runs away with Lucas. Diego, who then turns into a zombie, bites Lucas. But Iris manages to amputate his infected arm to save him.

On returning to the checkpoint to retrieve the van, Francis faces Joshua. Scared by his father's blood-smeared appearance and state of despair, Joshua, not able to figure out what to do, eventually fires the gun at Francis, just to realize his mistake soon after.

As Francis lies dying, he acknowledges him as his son, and in a dramatic series of events Joshua, along with his mother and brother, drives away to the safe camp they had learned about.


For further updates, stay tuned to Soap Central.

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Edited by Apoorva Jujjavarapu