There Is No Alternate Ending for "Us", Sorry

Oh, you better believe this article is full of spoilers.

Us, Jordan Peele’s follow-up to Get Out, has finally arrived in Australian cinemas, after having exploding the American box office and melting viewers’ minds.

The flick stars Lupita Nyong’o as Adelaide, a woman whose family finds themselves terrorised by bizarro doubles of themselves, decked out in red jumpsuits and armed with golden scissors.

Except, you already knew that because you would only read this article if you’d seen the flick. Seriously, spoiler warning! We are going to discuss the ending below! Make like Daniel Kaluuya and get out!

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Movie Review: Us Proves Jordan Peele Has No Equal

It seems that for every ticket sold for Us, another Redditor gains their wings, because the site has exploded with theories about the flick’s mysterious doppelganger villains, with some users attempting to figure out Peele’s secret backstory for the "tethered".

"I have a pretty elaborate mythology and history of what's going on in this film," the director told THR, refusing to spill anything about the characters’ histories that wasn’t explicitly referenced in the film.

Of course, who the doubles are and where they came from is mostly explained in the final act of the flick, but Peele doesn't divulge too much (probably because it really would have taken the wind out of the film’s sails if it suddenly turned into a PowerPoint presentation). The biggest questions left swirling concern the shocking twist ending...

Here’s your last chance to escape unsullied.

At the end of the film, it’s revealed Adelaide is actually an escaped double who replaced her 'above ground' counterpart as a child, leaving her with a damaged voicebox in Santa Cruz’s abandoned tunnel system. The version we’ve been rooting for is a potentially 'soulless', manufactured version of the one we’ve been watching seek bloody revenge. That means our 'hero' was the villain all along. Or, at the very least, as the entire film attempts to argue with its subtextual references, we have more in common with our enemies than we’d care to admit. And perhaps, we’re not the heroes at all…

But getting into that is a whole thing.

The question is, did Peele have another ending to Us in his back-pocket? After all, Get Out famously reshot it’s super-dark ending in which (spoilers for Get Out coming!) Daniel Kaluuya’s Chris escaped the clutches of his girlfriend’s family, only to get arrested and imprisoned for their murders.

(Mild violence.)

The version that was added to the film is significantly better: Chris thinks a police car is pulling up while he strangles Rose (Allison Williams), forcing the audience to fear the authorities. When it’s revealed it’s actually just his buddy Rod (Lil Rel Howery) from the TSA, viewers sigh in relief, and Peele enacts his best, most subversive act of cinematic empathy, making viewers see the world through Chris’ (and black America's) eyes.

That said, if you were hoping for a happier ending for Adelaide and her family, Peele told THR there is no alternate finale for Us. And even if there was, it wouldn’t matter. The version of the film unfolding in cinemas is the complete story Peele wanted to tell, right down to its gut punch revelation. We just have to deal with it.

Us is now in Australian cinemas.

Header Image: Universal Pictures