Venom: The Last Dance Director Explains The Film’s Ending

In the months before the release of Venom: The Last Dance, Tom Hardy repeatedly said it would be his final film as Eddie Brock/Venom. Now that the movie is in theaters, screenwriter and director Kelly Marcel is sharing her thoughts on the ending and what it means for the future of the franchise.

Warning: There are massive spoilers ahead for the ending and post-credits scenes from Venom: The Last Dance. If you haven’t seen the film or don’t want to be spoiled, stop reading now.

Hardy apparently wasn’t exaggerating about this film being his swansong, as it seems to slam the door on any future Venom sequels. The Venom symbiote saved Eddie Brock and the entire Earth from Knull by bonding with the invading xenophages and sacrificing itself. That leaves Eddie alive, but now just an ordinary man who has lost his best friend.

Marcel told EW that she and Hardy always planned to wrap up Venom after three movies, with the support of Sony.

“We always saw it as a three-story arc, and we always knew where it was going to end, and it’s something that we thought about from the first Venom,” said Marcel. “It is really special, and we’ve been really incredibly lucky. Sony have been incredible partners to us and really supported what I think is a really brave decision.”

Eddie Brock gets to go off in the sunset and remember his pal, but the primary villain of the film, Knull (Andy Serkis), remains trapped in his planetary prison… for now. Knull’s attempt to escape may have failed in this story, but the mid-credits scene makes it clear he’s going to try again. And this time, there won’t be a Venom to stop him.

“We always knew that Knull was this massive, incredible, terrifying supervillain that we always were interested in trying to explore,’ related Marcel. “We knew that we wanted to use xenophages in this movie, and they are obviously the children of Knull, as are the symbiotes, and so the xenophages have to be sent by somebody. But Knull is an incredibly massive character, so this movie is very much an introduction to that character. I’m sure he has many more stories to tell. You can’t just do one Knull movie.”

The Venom symbiote and even Eddie himself have cheated death in the comics, but it remains to be seen if Venom will return in this continuity, or even which film will continue the Knull storyline that began in The Last Dance.

Venom: The Last Dance is now playing in theaters.