Bodies ending explained: Does Elias Mannix change his mind?

Audiences have been longing for a good crime caper – and new Netflix series Bodies offers up the ultimate challenge. Here’s the Bodies ending explained in full.

Now available to stream, Bodies is an adaptation of the graphic novel written by Si Spencer, with its stacked cast led by Stephen Graham.

The key to having the Bodies ending explained is understanding the show’s 4 separate timelines and their significance. DI Hillinghead (Kyle Soller) is the focal point in 1890, DCI Whiteman (Jacob Fortune-Lloyd) in 1941, DS Hasan (Amaka Okafor) in 2023, and DC Maplewood (Shira Haas) in 2053. Each exists at their own point in time but also seems to exist in one consistent parallel.

The four end up able to communicate with each other by leaving notes and markings throughout time, while two (Hasan and Maplewood) eventually end up meeting and working with one another. Here’s how it all pieces together. Warning – spoilers for Bodies ahead!

Bodies ending explained: The timelines hold the answer

Each detective finds the same unidentified body in the same East London street, though each is taken in a different direction once encountering it.

In 1890, Hillinghead’s attention is brought to a young journalist, who has accidentally photographed a man who could be their lead suspect. The two are instantly attracted to each other, with Hillinghead immediately arresting the journalist in fear. After approaching him and his family at home, the journalist agrees to work with Hillinghead to solve the case. The pair deduce that the man in the photo is the town’s richest man, Julian Harker. Hillinghead is invited to a seance at Harker’s house when he catches wind of the duo’s interest in him, blackmailing the DI with posed naked photos of him and the journalist in order to keep his nose clean. In the end, this leads to Hillinghead falsely confessing to the murder himself, being killed by Harker en route to a new holding cell.

In 1941, Whiteman is working as an odd-jobs guy for an incredibly dodgy unknown woman. He’s asked to collect and dump the same unidentified body after a phone call, which leads to one of his anti-semitic colleagues tailing him. Whiteman kills the other officer and sets the scene up to free him of guilt. The plan works until a young Yiddish girl tries to blackmail him after witnessing the whole thing. The female voice tells Whiteman to kill the girl, who refuses. He fakes the girl’s death while keeping her safe in his flat. When the pair evacuate to the London Underground, the unknown woman appears and kills the girl herself. When Whiteman tries to track her down, he discovers she is Polly, DI Hillinghead’s daughter. His boss, the chief of police, is her son and kills Whiteman’s colleague once the pair have caught up. Whiteman kills Polly in revenge, leading him to the now dying Julian Harker, and kills him too.

Bodies ending explained: Hasan and Maplewood aren’t far behind

In 2023, Hasan finds a young boy hovering over the same body, claiming that he didn’t kill him. After chasing him down via his family, Hasan is led to a troubled 15-year-old boy called Elias Mannix. After his friend named Elias while taking his own life in a shopping center, Elias tells Hasan that people are making him do things out of his control. When Hasan can’t understand why, they visit where Elias lives, and the police find photos of Hasan and her son being followed. His parental figures are called in for questioning, with one cracking and revealing Elias’ new whereabouts. However, it’s a trap, killing an officer in the process. Hasan finds one in a series of vinyl records, leading her to visit police archives. She’s the first to learn that the body has been investigated before, telling her superior. While visiting Elias’ real yet estranged mother, Hasan learns that her boss is actually Elias’ father. The three meet on a boat, where Elias is played a recording from his older self. A bomb has been hidden in a central bank by past Mannix, with Elias eventually detonating it. 500,000 people are killed and the country is changed forever.

In 2053, Maplewood’s car picks up the same body in a sealed-off area. Viewers learn that she works alongside now-Commander Mannix, who has rebuilt the country under a strict regime following the 2023 blast. Maplewood’s routine investigations lead her to believe the body belongs to a man called Gabriel Defoe – who is in fact alive and working as a lecturer. Defoe visits his barely-alive body which causes it to properly die. After talking to Defoe, Maplewood learns that he and one of her close friends are actually members of a “terrorist” group called Chapel Perilous, working against Mannix’s regime. The group is led by none other than former DS Hasan, who explains that she lost her son after Elias detonated the bomb 30 years before. Ever since, she’s been working with Defoe to try and rectify the past, with the pair creating a form of time travel known as The Throat. In a fit of frustration, Maplewood shoots Defoe in the eye while standing in front of The Throat, sending his body into each different point in time.

Bodies ending explained: Julian Harker is Elias Mannix

Each of the detectives comes into contact with the phrase “know you are loved,” which transpires to be the name of Mannix’s nationwide cult in 2053. After discovering The Throat, Maplewood learns that it is what Mannix used to travel back in time and establish his following from 1890 – when he assumed the identity of Julian Harker. After successfully convincing Lady Agatha Harker that he was her long-lost son, Harker pursued Polly after killing DI Hillinghead. The pair married and had a child called Hayden, who grew up to be Whiteman’s chief in 1941. Once Hayden is born, Polly is told the truth, with Julian revealing his true identity. For some reason, Polly is absolutely fine with this, carrying out the KYAL prophecy until her death.

Dafoe’s original thinking was to enter The Throat to try and stop Mannix, with Maplewood shooting him before he could make any progress. Regretting her actions, she finds Defoe’s workings out and deduces that he will return to their current timeline in 4 days’ time. Hasan and Maplewood wait and Defoe appears, leading to the next stage of the plan. Knowing that she won’t survive if everything goes according to plan, Maplewood heads into The Throat to stop Mannix once and for all. If he can’t be killed, his mind must be changed entirely.

Bodies ending explained: Elias Mannix changes his mind

Thankfully for the rest of them, that’s exactly what happens. Maplewood is able to get to Hillinghead in 1890 just before he is about to be killed by Harker. She brings him up to speed with who Harker actually is, and although it takes some convincing, Hillinghead confronts Harker before being killed. Planting a seed of doubt in his mind, Hillinghead tells Harker that he is never going to fill the void of love that he is looking for, and will die alone and lonely. Addressing him as Mannix, it works, altering how Polly loves Harker as well as the birth of Hayden. This time around, Polly also learns that Harker killed her dad, with Polly unable to love Harker again. By 1941, Polly wishes that she’d killed Mannix herself, but is still convinced the future must unfold as it should.

The person who is no longer convinced by his own dream of love is Mannix, recording a secret message for young Elias. When Whiteman comes to shoot him, Mannix entrusts him to hide the secret recording ready for Hasan in 2023. Whiteman is successful but is shot by Hayden before too long. In 2053, Hasan is keeping track of time’s success, with each detective having scrawled their name in brick on the London street where Defoe was found. Knowing something has changed, Hasan travels back to 2023, finding the recording. She intercepts her former self before Elias detonated the bomb and plays him the recording. Convinced, Elias changes his mind and reunites with his mother. While past and future Hasan hug, Elias and 2053 Hasan disappear into thin air. Everything that happened after the original bomb no longer exists.

The final part of the Bodies ending explained is life continuing how it should have been all along. Hillinghead still meets his journalist on a busy road, with the same said for Whiteman and the young girl he tried to save. Hasan carries on as normal in 2023, with her son being safe and sound. On her way to her dad’s birthday party, Hasan gets in a taxi driven by a version of Maplewood who knows her name. As the taxi drives off, the KYAL logo seen in 2053 lights up, suggesting that the cult found its way through regardless.

Bodies is available to stream on Netflix from October 19. Check out some of our other Netflix hubs below:

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