8 Things That Happen After Leave The World Behind's Ending That The Movie Doesn't Tell You

Unanswered Questions and Creative Adjustments

The end of Netflix's 2023 movie Leave the World Behind left out some crucial details from the book about what happens to the world in the future. Leave the World Behind is an adaptation of the 2020 best-selling novel of the same name by Rumaan Alam, which paints a picture of how the world would end. Since movies don't always stick to their source material, it's not surprising that director Sam Esmail made some intriguing creative adjustments to the ending. While not everyone is happy with the changes made to the Leave the World Behind book, some decisions like that of making Ruth the daughter of G.H. instead of his wife ultimately made the movie better and more relatable.

Myha'la, Mahershala Ali, Ethan Hawke, and Julia Robert looking worried as they stand in front of a TV screen in Leave the World Behind.

The film's ending left plenty of questions unanswered, including what caused Archie's illness, where the glass-shattering sound came from, who was behind the attacks, and why they were happening, thus inspiring numerous theories from audiences. While it makes sense considering the movie lacks narration or future insight by the characters, Netflix's Leave the World Behind does omit some answers to big questions that were included in the book. The book frequently featured explanations of what happened after the events of the main narrative, as well as what was occurring outside the town in which the families were trapped. By not including these book details, audiences are kept guessing and just as much in the dark as Leave the World Behind's characters.

A Huge Number Of People Died

People Died In Gruesome Ways

Leave the World Behind Giant Deer

Leave the World Behind's ending did not show the number of people who died. While the Scotts and the Sandfords were safe in their vacation home, other people were not so lucky. The book reveals that some people died by suicide, whereas others died while driving into New York City, which had many unclaimed corpses rotting in the streets. When the hospitals lost power, all the babies in the neonatal care unit died hours after the blackout. Shockingly, a mother in Maryland did the unimaginable and killed her two daughters to save them from whatever was out there that was causing the end of the world as they knew it.

Farrah Mackenzie as Rose in Leave the World Behind

Deer Turned Unicorn White

Deer From The Next Generation Became White Because Of Intergenerational Trauma

Teslas piled up in Leave the World Behind

One of the biggest mysteries in Leave the World Behind is the creepy deer. In Leave the World Behind, the appearance of the deer is a warning sign from nature that the world is about to change. The uncharacteristic appearance of so many deer resulted from a cyberattack that changed their migration patterns. The book reveals that years after Rose's family dies, the next generation of deer is born as white as unicorns. A geneticist would discover that the deer turned white because of intergenerational trauma that came from them losing their home.

Ruth (Myha'la) and Amanda (Julia Roberts) face off with the deer in Leave the World Behind

Nadine Thorne Dies In A Military Camp

The Thornes Couldn't Get Back Home

Julia Roberts as Amanda gazing out a window in a quiet scene from Leave the World Behind

While Rose concluded Leave the World Behind by watching Friends at the Thornes' house, she had no idea that the family was at a San Diego airport trying to find their way back home. Since there was a nationwide emergency that meant that no domestic flights were operating, the Thornes would never see their home on Long Island again. Nadine, the matriarch of the Thorne family, would get cancer and subsequently die at the tent camp the army had built. Her body, like so many others, would be burned, before the bodies started outnumbering the people who had to burn them.

Mahershala Ali and Julia Roberts looking shocked in Leave the World Behind