Talk to Me ending explained: Directors discuss that final shot

Talk to Me is already one of the most talked about horror movies of the year. With the film releasing today, here’s the ending explained, plus what that might mean for any potential sequel.

Since debuting at the Sundance Film Festival in January, Talk to Me has been making waves in horror circles. Directed by brothers Danny and Michael Philippou – hitherto best known for their action-packed YouTube videos – the film is an altogether more somber affair. You can read our review of Talk to Me here, while the official synopsis as follows:

“When a group of friends discover how to conjure spirits using an embalmed hand, they become hooked on the new thrill, until one of them goes too far and unleashes terrifying supernatural forces.”

With Talk to Me in cinemas now, we’re going to analyse the ending, with a bit of help from Danny and Michael. So beware of SPOILERS ahead…

Talk to Me ending explained

Mia – played by Sophie Wilde – is the chief protagonist in Talk to Me. She participates in a seance at the start of the movie using a mysterious embalmed hand, then seems to be possessed for the rest of proceedings.

Mia is already having dark thoughts due to the death of her mother. And she sees dark spirits as a result, which manipulate her into doing terrible things. This results in Mia stabbing her father in the neck with a pair of scissors.

She’s then encouraged to kill her friend Riley to set him free from his own seeming demons. So Mia visits his hospital, sticks Riley in a wheelchair, and wheels him to a nearby highway. But as she’s about to kill her friend, Mia sees the error of her ways, and throws herself in front of the oncoming traffic. Thereby saving Riley.

Mia then finds herself back at the hospital, where she sees the fully recovered Riley departing with his family. Confused by this jump in time, it’s then revealed that Mia is dead, and now on the other side, doing the possessing rather than being possessed.

The final shot is of Mia on the other end of an embalmed hand, making contact with people at a party in Europe, as co-writer and co-director Danny Philippou explains: “We wanted it to end up in Greece. We’re in Greece at the end.”

As for whether the embalmed hand here is the same one Mia used earlier in the film – or the other hand that’s mentioned mid-way through proceedings – the brothers are non-committal, with Danny saying: “We just want for people to have their own interpretations and be able to have that conversation. But all the clues are there. Everything’s planted, but we really don’t want to spell things – spell anything – out.”

Will there be a Talk to Me 2?

The ending of Talk to Me clearly sets up a sequel, with new people using a hand to contact the dead. And Mia trapped on the other side. But will that happen? We asked the Philippous.

Danny: “Oh, my God, we’d love, love, love to do a second Talk To Me – that would be so amazing. We have an entire Mythology Bible that we don’t really even touch on in the film that explains everything. From like where the hand came from, and there’s like little clues hidden on the hand and little seeds that we planted. We just would love the chance to be able to do a sequel – that’d be amazing. 

Michael: “We’re looking forward to Talk To Me 8: Talk To Me in Space.”

Danny: “I just think that there’s so many stories that we could tell that I guess it’s just like, what would be [first]… who knows?  I was already writing scenes for a sequel while writing the first one. You could follow entirely new characters, you can find where the hand came from, you could even continue the story that we’ve started telling here. There’s so many different avenues. I’m not entirely sure what direction we would take it in but I know that if we were given the opportunity, we’d find what direction.”

Interview conducted by Kim Taylor-Foster.

Talk to Me is in cinemas now, and for more coverage, see below:

Talk to Me review | Influence of The Babadook | Is it streaming? | Does Talk to Me have a post-credits scene? | Ending explained | Sequel plans |