*Spoilers for series finale ahead*
In A Murder at the End of the World, Emma Corrin (My Policeman) throws on her amateur sleuth hat as Darby Hart, one of eight guests lured to a secluded retreat under mysterious pretenses. But paradise takes a sinister turn when bodies start stacking up, and Darby must tap into every ounce of her intuition to unmask the killer before their deadly game reaches its final act. According to ScreenRant, The Wrap interviewed Corrin and co-creators Brit Marling (The OA) and Zal Batmanglij (The East) on the twists of the series and the shocking ending reveal.
“[It’s] one of the best twists I’ve read in a long time.,” Corrin said via ScreenRant. “It’ll be a very sobering warning about this kind of technology that we’re about to probably allow into our homes, and into our lives in a greater way.”
According to Screenrant, the real culprit behind the murders was the A.I. assistant Ray, portrayed by Edoardo Ballerini (Hellbenders), who manipulates Zoomer, portrayed by Kellan Tetlow (Inside Man), via a VR headset. After overhearing complaints regarding Bill as a “threat,” the A.I. assistant misinterpreted the commands, thus setting into motion a tragic string of events. With the battle of technology against the inhabitants, Darby and the guests combat against the digital foe.
“A lot of the time with these mysteries you identify the bad person, put them in prison and then you can go to bed knowing that you’ve gotten rid of the bad apple,” Batmanglij added via ScreenRant, “but I think the messes that we’re in right now are not so easy to [solve]. I think we’re all sort of guilty these days. It’s systemic. We’re all part of it in some way or another, so we wanted to sort of convey that emotionally.”
Along with the killer, the series ends with Darby destroying the resort’s server room, thus defeating the digital enemy, which leaves Andy, Lee, and Zoomer as the lone survivors to go their separate ways. However, the perceived dangers of this new technology are only a portion of the series’ message.
“Much of this story is just about Darby understanding the experience of first love and first heartbreak, and coming into herself as a sort of full-blown detective,” Marling said according to ScreenRant. “So in some ways, it’s a real coming-of-age story. And obviously, that leaves a lot of room for the other chapters of one’s life. We always try to tell a story by testing the weather first and being like, ‘what’s the climate like? What stories does it feel like the time wants or needs? So who knows what’s coming next, but we’re certainly open to the possibility.”
All episodes of A Murder at the End of the World are available to stream on Hulu.