The following contains spoilers for Boy Kills World, now playing in theaters
Boy Kills World‘s ending completely changes the story, with a series of major revelations throwing the film’s protagonist (and the audience) for a major loop. The film focuses on the titular Boy. Played by Bill Skarsgård, the otherwise nameless hero was left deaf, mute, and without a family due to the actions of the Van Der Koy family. After years of training, the Boy finally decides to take his revenge, setting off a massive bloody quest that leaves lots of corpses in its wake.
The third act of the wild action movie Boy Kills World is a game-changer, as it recontextualizes some of the film’s most important characters and their relationships to one another. It turns one of the Boy’s allies into an over-arching villain, without undoing the terrible actions of the Van Der Koy family. It even sets up a potential path for a sequel to Boy Kills World, introducing a new direction and adventures for the Boy to embark upon in the future while still giving the action-filled Boy Kills World a satisfying conclusion.
Boy Kills World‘s third act twist upends the entire proceeding film by revealing the Boy is actually a Van Der Koy. For much of Boy Kills World, Boy wants revenge against the Van Der Koys because they executed his family. However, it turns out he is the long-lost son of Hilda Van Der Koy. After his mother forced him to take part in killing dissidents, the Boy fled into the forest — where he was kidnapped by the Shaman. The Shaman was the one to deafen Skarsgård’s Boy and make him mute. The Shaman also used drugs to alter his memories.
This is why the Boy has no recollection of the Van Der Koys outside their public personas. This doesn’t undo any of the terrible things the Van Der Koys have done over the years. However, it positions the Shaman as the final antagonist of the film. Although his harsh treatment of Boy during his training left a dark impression, it seemed to fit into the film’s dark sense of comedy. The Shaman was still seemingly a noble figure in the narrative. His decision to house, feed, and train the Boy now has a far more gruesome and tragic motivation.
The Shaman is the true final threat of Boy Kills World, and his tragic backstory adds unexpected depth to a standard role. For much of Boy Kills World, the Shaman is a standard mysterious mentor. He trains the Boy and keeps him alive for years with little backstory given. The truth is that he was a dissident who saw his wife and two children murdered by the Boy himself. Discovering the tearful Boy in the jungle, the Shaman resisted the urge to kill him and transformed him into a tool for vengeance instead.
The Shaman’s treatment of the Boy is especially horrifying in retrospect, especially because his plan largely works. Transformed into a living weapon with an unquenchable drive for revenge, the Boy slaughters dozens of the Van Der Koys forces and is personally responsible for putting down two members of the family. Meanwhile, his actions lead directly to the deaths of two others, including Hilda. This allows the Shaman to appear in the finale to try and finish the job, only to discover that the last of the Van Der Koys have united in the face of the truth.
June-27 turns out to be the Boy’s sister and a fellow Van Der Koy, adding another layer to the revelations about his family connections. Throughout the film, the memory of his dead sister serves as a chatty representation of the Boy’s conscience. She only fades once the Boy refuses to show any mercy, even the ones who are injured and are no longer a threat. However, June turns out to be the real version of that imaginary girl, something teased during a duel between her and the Boy when his imaginary sister commented June was pretty.
Upon discovering the truth, June refuses to fight her brother for the rest of the film. Even when her mother orders June to kill the Boy as a result of his seemingly shattered personality, June instead slays Hilda. This sets up the final stretch of the film where June and the Boy work together to try and escape the Van Der Koy compound. The Boy pays back the favor by refusing to leave her to the Shaman, with the pair working together to just barely overcome and kill the Boy’s former mentor.
Most of the primary cast of Boy Kills Worlddon’t make it to the end of the film. While Sharlto Copley’s Glen Van Der Koy is accidentally killed earlier in the film by Basho, most of the notable deaths occur after the Boy has been thrown into the latest iteration of the Culling. The televised firefight is interrupted by the Boy’s allies Basho and Benny, with the latter sacrificing his life to save the Boy. Basho survives the initial encounter but is wounded fighting waves of Van Der Koy soldiers, succumbing to his wounds while the Boy is busy fighting.
Most of the Van Der Koy family are also slain. Melanie is killed by the Boy, using one of her cameras to impale her. Gideon, who’d grown disillusioned with his family, secretly helped the Boy and was wounded by Melanie. Boy refuses to spare him though, and finishes the job off-screen. Hilda is killed by June with an ax to the head, saving her brother. Notably, Hilda’s mother was present as well, but her fate is more ambiguous given the chaotic fallout of Helen’s death. Finally, the Shaman is killed by the Boy and June after a lengthy fight.
The final moments of Boy Kills World, coupled with the credits and a quick mid-credits sequence, reveal that the Boy and June escape the city and make their way to the nearby forests. This means any prospective sequel could return to the pair and explore what they do with their lives now that they’ve been reunited and Boy has gotten his revenge. There’s a likely power vacuum left in the aftermath of the Van Der Koys’ deaths, which could set up further chaos in the city.
Any prospective sequel to Boy Kills World could explore the fallout of the battle and how the city responds to its ruling family being wiped out. The Boy and June might need to remain on the run to avoid repercussions or could be placed into power given their family name. A second film could also explore more about what happened to the world and leave it in the state where the Van Der Koys could take over, to begin with. Boy Kills World ends on a conclusive note, but leaves some exciting threads open for further exploration.