Don’t Worry Darling ending explained (What is the plot twist?)

One of the most talked-about movies of 2022 was Don’t Worry Darling, both for its twisty storyline onscreen and all of the gossip offscreen surrounding the alleged drama. The rumor mill kept busy leading up to the release of the Olivia Wilde-helmed thriller, and though the movie might not have lived up to the hype, it’s still worth the watch if you were invested in the real-life narrative.

In a surprise move, Netflix dropped Don’t Worry Darling on Friday, Sept. 1, despite not including it on their September 2023 list of new releases. Needless to say, this will likely be a popular addition to the streamer’s library going into Labor Day Weekend, when users will no doubt be looking for exciting titles to watch during their days off. If you’re considering checking out the movie for the first time, or if you’ve just watched it on Netflix and are super confused about that ending, look no further because we’re going to break it all down for you.

What is Don’t Worry Darling about?

In case you haven’t heard of the movie before, Don’t Worry Darling is a thriller-drama movie that came to theaters in Sept. 2022. It follows a married couple named Alice and Jack who lives in an idealistic community in the desert that is owned by the company Jack works for, Victory. Based on their clothing, cars, and other factors, the movie seems to take place in the ’50s or ’60s. They live a seemingly perfect life, but everything comes crashing down when Alice starts suspecting the people in power of not being fully truthful.

As more secrets about the town start to become uncovered, Alice believes she and Jack are in danger.

The cast of Don’t Worry Darling is star-studded, including Florence Pugh in the lead as Alice and Harry Styles as Jack. Other cast members include Chris Pine, Olivia Wilde, Gemma Chan, Nick Kroll, and KiKi Layne.

What happens at the end of Don’t Worry Darling?

So what is the big plot twist in Don’t Worry Darling? What is Victory really all about, and are the people who run it evil? Well, after Alice starts telling people about her suspicions, she’s taken away from her home and is forced to undergo electroshock therapy. During the treatment, she starts to see visions of a different life for her and Jack. These visions show the two of them in a modern world and having serious problems.

While Alice works hard at a hospital, Jack is unemployed and stays home all day. And when Alice isn’t looking, he visits far-right websites on the internet and exposes himself to the audience — and Alice, now watching this in a vision –as an incel. He’s angry with her for having a demanding job and being too tired to have sex with her. He wants a different life in which he can feel important and be the breadwinner. While on his computer, Jack listens to a recording of Frank, the founder of Victory.

Alice returns home after the electroshock treatment and attempts to carry on with her life, but she starts to realize that the weird vision she saw isn’t a vision at all. It’s a memory. That’s right — this movie doesn’t take place decades ago, but in modern times. As it’s revealed through a shocking sequence, Jack applied back in the real world to be part of the “Victory Project,” which is a simulation. He forced Alice to do it without her knowledge, so when she’s in the simulated world, she doesn’t know that she is. She just thinks this is her real life. And so do almost all of the women in the community.

When the men head off to “work” each day in the simulation, they’re returning to the real world and checking in on their wives who are drugged up and unaware of what’s going on.

Once Alice figures it out, she’s understandably angry at Jack, but he still doesn’t see what he did as wrong. Their argument escalates and Alice ends up hitting Jack over the head with a glass, seemingly killing him in both the simulated world and the real world. Alice manages to flee the town in the end, getting to Victory Headquarters and leaving the simulation. The movie ends before we can see her in the real world, but we can assume she is transported back to her home and real consciousness.

Is there a Don’t Worry Darling post-credits scene?

Though post-credits scenes are extremely popular nowadays, Don’t Worry Darling does not include one. There certainly could’ve been a wide variety of possibilities to choose from to add as an end-credits scene, especially if they might be setting up a sequel. But that’s not the case.

Is a Don’t Worry Darling sequel happening?

And speaking of a Don’t Worry Darling sequel, it doesn’t look like one is happening. We’re sorry to be the bearer of bad news if you were hoping for this story to continue, but there’s been no word from Olivia Wilde or anyone involved that would make us believe another movie is happening. There could definitely be room to expand on the story of Victory, whether it be a backstory or what happens after Alice leaves. There are a lot of unanswered questions at the end of the movie, and I’m sure fans would love to see more.

All of that said, there are no active plans that we’ve heard of for a Don’t Worry Darling sequel. We’ll be sure to let our readers know if that changes.

You can now watch Don’t Worry Darling on Netflix and on Max.