Ready to meet your “Companion?”
The twisty techno thriller-slash-romantic comedy-slash-horror movie just hit theaters. And this is the type of movie that begs to be discussed afterwards – especially following the movie’s shocking ending.
“Companion” starts off innocently enough, as we follow three couples as they spend a weekend together – Iris (Sophie Thatcher) and Josh (Jack Quaid), Patrick (Lukas Gage) and Eli (Harvey Guillén) and Kat (Megan Suri) and her bizarro Russian boyfriend Sergey (Rupert Friend), whose lush house they are visiting. But soon enough, it’s revealed that Iris is actually Josh’s robot girlfriend. And things only get more bizarre and unhinged from there.
Honestly, if you have not seen the movie, we can not spoil anything else for you. All of the above has been covered in the trailer, so we’re safe.
But if you have seen the movie, well, we might as well talk about the ending, with some additional commentary from writer/director Drew Hancock. Of course, a severe spoiler warning must be issued before we proceed.
What happens at the end of “Companion?”
Iris escapes.
Okay, maybe we should back up.
Sure. So the weekend at Sergey’s was a ruse for Josh, Kat and Eli to rob Sergey. Josh jailbreaks Iris so that she kills Sergey (a tech-phobic Russian whose beautiful lake house is free from electronic interference). The plan was for the three of them to divvy up the money and blame Iris. Of course, she breaks free, turns the tables on her human aggressors, and attempts to flee the scene. Eli then hacks Patrick, turning him into a kind of T-1000, who heads after Iris and kills a bunch of people in his way.
And where are we right before the end of the movie?
Well, Iris finally kills Josh, using this bougie electric screwdriver (it’s pretty great). The next morning she peels back her “skin,” revealing a robotic hand underneath (again: very “Terminator 2”). She drives away from the lake house and while on the road sees another companion robot, who looks just like Iris, in the passenger seat of another car. Iris sees this other woman and waves at her, revealing her robotic hand. The other-Iris looks deeply confused. And concerned.
Here is what writer/director Drew Hancock had to say:
Hancock said that the point of the ending was “to remind the audience that this is a lot more complicated than her just driving off.” And that’s not all – people will know where Iris is headed.
“She still has a tracking chip in her hand. She still has Empathix [the robotics company] out there,” Hancock said. “And I think that was the easiest reminder is just to show that she’s going to go into a world that there are a bunch of other women that look like her and that the world is bigger than this house in the middle of nowhere.”
If the movie’s a hit, there is going to be a sequel. Right?
Well, maybe. Hancock said that he is interested in at least writing a sequel, if not directing it too. But that said, his idea might be a little bucolic for a franchise movie.
“My ideal sequel to the movie would be she just uses a $12 million to buy a farm in the middle of nowhere, and she just works the land and then just sits on the porch and watches the sunset,” Hancock explained. “Because I think that I want her to have that life. She does not strike me as someone that wants to lead a robot revolution. She strikes me as someone that wants to live very human moments.” In other words: let Iris live.
“Companion” is in theaters now.
