The following contains spoilers for The First Omen, now playing in theaters
The First Omen is the latest sequel to a long-standing horror franchise, following the example of other series like Halloween or The Exorcist that have received modern reinventions and expansions. The First Omen is directly connected to the series and serves as a prequel to the original The Omen. The First Omen‘s ending leads straight to the events of the first film in the series and serves as an unexpected explanation of Damien Thorn’s birth parents.
In the process, The First Omen quietly makes a lot of changes to the lore established in the original film. This includes retconning Damien’s mother and the circumstances of his birth, as well as introducing a new wrinkle in the form of a twin sister. The First Omen also steadily reveals the surprising group that’s behind the events of the series, and why they worked to create the Antichrist. Here are the biggest twists and turns in The First Omen and how they set up further sequels in The Omen franchise.
The ending of The First Omen reveals that Margaret has been the intended mother of the Antichrist all along, leading to the film’s climax where she gives birth to Damien and his twin sister. For much of The First Omen, Margaret and Father Brennan work under the assumption that Carlita is intended to be used as the mother of the Antichrist. Margaret seeing the Mark of the Beast on the roof of her mouth seems to confirm this. However, their investigation reveals Margaret is a child of Satan and is the true target of the plan to birth the Antichrist.
These revelations throw Margaret’s entire life (and much of the film’s backstory) into question, including the visions she experienced as a child and Cardinal Lawrence’s long-standing affection for her. Margaret ends up giving birth rather suddenly in the film, delivering twins. The boy is heralded as the Antichrist, as the previous attempts to sire him had all resulted in failures. In the end, the conspiracy takes away the infant Damien and leaves a wounded Margaret and her baby daughter to die. This explains why they were never mentioned in the original film.
Similar to Carlita and her own children, Margaret was born on the sixth of June at 6:00 AM, which is considered in-universe to be a sign of the devil. The First Omen reveals that the devil had been attempting to sire a mortal heir, but kept failing to produce Antichrist. Instead, the idea became to force one of the devil’s other offspring like Margaret or Carlita to mate with the devil, which could then produce the Antichrist. It’s a dark and horrifying turn of events and explains much about Margaret’s mysterious past as an orphan raised by the Church.
One of the biggest twists in The First Omen is the motivation behind the birth of Damien. It turns out there is a secret faction of the Catholic Church who, fearing their waning power in the world, decide to assist Satan in his mission. Their intention is to arrange for the Antichrist’s rise as a means of terrifying the public, which could then spur them to return to the Church. Sister Silvia, Luz Valez, and Cardinal Lawrence are all part of this conspiracy. It’s a horrifying turn, with their plans undercut by the other films in the series.
The First Omen is a direct prequel to the events of The Omen, serving as the origin story for how Damien was conceived and born. This connection to the 1976 horror classic is reinforced in The First Omen‘s final scenes. After leaving Margaret and her daughter to die in a fire that doubles as a means to cover their tracks, the secretive conspiracy behind Damien’s birth quickly takes the baby to a nearby hospital. There, they arrange to give him to the Thorn family after a “tragic accident” costs them their newborn son.
Along the way, they inspect a folder containing information about the Thorn family. This gives the audience a quick look at a picture of Robert Thorn, an ambassador who they intend to use as a means of giving Damien a privileged and powerful life. Robert was played by Gregory Peck in The Omen and served as that film’s central protagonist. Notably, Robert and Margaret share a thematic downfall, as both get a brief chance to kill Damien in their respective climaxes but fail to do so before they can be brought down.
Although The First Omen ends with a direct connection to The Omen, it also makes some deliberate retcons to The Omen‘s lore. Damien’s birth is shown in The First Omen. Quickly sired by the devil and coming to term unnaturally quickly, Margaret is subjected to a C-Section operation that leads to Damien’s birth. In The Omen, it was instead suggested that Damien’s mother had actually been a jackal. This led to one of The Omen‘s most horrifying reveals, which saw Robert and his ally Keith discover the jackal’s skeleton (as well as the skeleton of Robert’s actual son, who had been killed to make room for Damien.)
The presence of Margaret throws that into question, although her escape from the fiery church at the end of the film alongside Carlita does include imagery of a burning jackal screaming in the flames. There’s also the existence of Margaret’s daughter and Damien’s twin sister. In the original The Omen films, there was no indication that Damien had any blood relations. Damien’s sister could theoretically possess similar powers to her brother, or could even be something of a counter to Damien. It’s an interesting idea and one that could justify further expansion of the franchise.
The First Omen‘s final moments set up a potential expansion of the franchise. Although Margaret is wounded and left for dead by the conspiracy to birth the Antichrist, she and her daughter are saved by the intervention of Carlita. Together, the pair are revealed to go into hiding. The final moments of The First Omen take place years later, likely within the same time frame as much of The Omen‘s plot given the age of Margaret’s daughter. Father Brennan can locate them and warns Margeret that her survival has been discovered by the conspiracy.
Brennan predicts they’ll soon be coming for them, setting up a potential follow-up story where Margaret, Carlita, and Margaret’s daughter are forced on the run. This could be an interesting set-up to explore in other films, potentially exploring any supernatural abilities possessed by Margaret’s daughter. Damien is shown in The Omen and the subsequent sequels to have unique demonic powers. It’d also be interesting to see more of the conspiracy within the Catholic Church, exploring how far their reach extends and how their efforts to control Damien fared in later years.
The First Omen is ultimately a tragic horror story, with the villains behind the plot getting everything they wanted. The film’s themes center around Margaret’s dawning horror at the lengths institutions like the Church can go to maintain power. Early in the film, Cardinal Lawrence expresses frustration with the younger generations turning away from the Church, which is later revealed to be a central aspect of his motivation to help birth the Antichrist. Margaret was forced into their system and conditioned in a way that made her a perfect target for their conspiracy.
It’s only when Margaret begins to rebel and think for herself that she endangers their schemes and is able to fight for herself. Even if it comes too late to stop them, Margaret’s efforts to break free of their control end up helping give Carlita a reason to resist the influence of the corrupted church — and in turn rescue Margaret in the film’s climax. While The First Omen may end on a dark note, Margeret and Carlita’s refusal to give in to authority affords the characters a brighter future where they have freedom and happiness (at least until that authority can hunt them down.)