'Us' Post-Credits Scene: Is It Worth Sticking Around After the Movie Ends?
Does Us have a post-credits scene? Jordan Peele’s new horror movie (or maybe it’s more of a psychological thriller) ends on a pretty big cliffhanger, so does it use a final after-the-credits moments to clear things up?
The short answer is: no. Once the credits roll, it’s over. At my screening, plenty of people stuck around seemingly hoping for something more, but that’s just not the case. However, this is one movie that could really benefit from an additional post-credits scene. Here’s why.
Warning: Us spoilers ahead.
First, here’s a quick summary of how Us ends (head here for a full breakdown). At the end of the movie, we learn that those evil doppelgängers were part of a government experiment to create clones of regular people (called Tethers), but when it turned out that the clones shared a brain with their originals and couldn’t control their own actions the entire project was abandoned underground. Then, after Lupita Nyong’o’s character Adelaide is captured by her Tether as a child and forced to switch places, she grows up to lead a violent uprising inspired by the Hands Across America charity stunt.
By the end of Us we learn the truth about Adelaide after the Tether version (which has been living above ground for decades) manages to kill her original and escape with her family, her true identity still a secret. As they drive away, a final zoomed-out shot shows a seemingly endless line of Tethers holding hands across California while cities burn in the background and helicopters hover overhead.
This leaves two huge questions (and a bunch of little ones) largely unanswered. First, what will Tether Adelaide do now that she’s killed her original? Is her family safe? And second, how big exactly is this uprising? Is there a clone of every person in California? In all of the United States? Can humanity stop them? (We have to assume this army of scissor-wielding Tethers can’t actually beat the U.S. military.)
Us never answers these questions, and for plenty of people that’s part of the fun. By leaving so many things open-ended, Jordan Peele allows us to imagine what could happen next, both for the family at the core of the movie and for an entire nation under siege from an army of angry clones.
But for anyone hoping for some actual resolution, the lack of a post-credits scene is just one final disappointment. Peele had the opportunity to put a final capstone on his story: an evil smile from Lupita, a TV news segment showing the Tethers overwhelming the army or wreaking havoc in the streets of New York, anything!
Instead, the movie just ends. That’s fine, and there’s something to be said for an open-ended story. But in this case I can’t help but feel like that one final scene could have done so much to improve the story.
Us is in theaters now.
