Arcadian ending explained: Did everyone survive?

A father and his two sons live in a post-apocalyptic world trying to stay alive in Arcadian – but do all three of them survive by the ending?

Nicolas Cage’s Arcadian is the newest action horror that tackles a world where humanity gets hunted at night by ravenous and grotesque monsters. The premise of the movie focuses on Paul and his twin sons Joseph and Thomas who grew up in a post-apocalyptic world.

By day, they forage and live in a secluded farmhouse. By night, they are secured indoors, have dinner, and keep an eye on the monsters that lurk at night. With Paul’s son Thomas being prone to adventure and visiting another secluded home miles away, it causes trouble.

With nighttime approaching one day, Paul has no choice but to leave Joseph holding down the fort while he goes to find his son. Amid monsters, the dark, and family, will Paul and his sons survive another day? Here’s what happens during Arcadian’s ending. Warning: Spoilers ahead!

Do Paul, Joseph, and Thomas survive in Arcadian?

Thomas, Joseph, and Charlotte manage to survive thanks to Paul’s sacrifice to stop the monsters from getting his sons and Charlotte.

In Arcadian, Paul does manage to find Thomas who had slipped and fell into a cave. The problem is that nighttime is when the rapid creatures emerge. Paul soon realizes that they have become smarter and are burrowing underground. Faced with too many after them, Paul sets off a bomb to kill them.

Thomas is safe, but Paul is gravely wounded and burned. Joseph was able to survive the night while also capturing one of the creatures and helping his brother tend to their father. But Thomas realizes they have to go to the rose garden house for help. While Charlotte, his love interest, wants to help, her parents turn them away under the pretense they don’t have medicine to spare.

Thomas stays behind, but it’s all a ruse to try and steal the medicine while his brother and father return home. As this occurs, Joseph realizes something. He notices the ground around the home has been disturbed and deduces the monsters will attack them by burrowing from under the house.

While Thomas is taken for “stealing” and ready to be killed, they are attacked by the monsters who have come from underground. In the chaos, Charlotte’s parents and everyone else is killed. Charlotte and Thomas run back to his home. Paul is awake and takes the medicine but is still not 100% able.

Joseph tells them he has a plan for the monsters and what he’s uncovered. He sets traps around the house and a homemade bomb that will hopefully kill all of them. As the monsters attack, they manage to kill some of them before retreating upstairs. Joseph plans for the bomb to go off and have everyone hide within a heavy ice box to withstand the blast.

Miraculously, Paul is on his feet helping fight off the monsters while the others get ready. But as a hoard is ready to attack, Paul realizes what he must do. He thinks about when his sons were babies and realizes he has done everything he can to prepare them.

He shuts the bedroom door and faces the monsters head-on. Thomas urges his brother to get in the ice box with them as the bomb explodes. It destroys everything and kills Paul. In the aftermath, Charlotte, Thomas, and Paul escape from a hoard of burning monsters.

Arcadian’s ending has the three of them make it to daybreak. They decided to move on and find another safe house and look for survivors.

Arcadian is available in theaters, and you can check out the other movies releasing this month.