Eternals director Chloé Zhao says the film originally had a very bleak ending

SPOILERS for Eternals. Consider yourself warned. With Spider-Man: No Way Home now playing in theaters (and raking in the box-office bucks), Eternals is no longer the new kid in town, but that doesn’t mean we’re done talking about it. Director Chloé Zhao recently spoke with Empire about Eternals and revealed that the original ending of the film was much bleaker than the one we got.

The theatrical ending of Eternals found Thena, Druig, and Makkari leaving to find other Eternals, while Sersi, Phastos, Kingo, and Sprite remain on Earth. However, Sersi, Phastos, and Kingo are dragged into space by Arishem and whisked away to parts unknown. Chloé Zhao told Empire that this ending wasn’t always how Eternals came to a close.

I have never made a film where the ending is what I wrote! You find it in the edit. Editing is a third of the filmmaking process, and when you show it to people, that’s when you find the ending. I don’t think I’ve made a single film where the opening and ending stay the same as the script, just because the scenes are fluid as we shoot. And we actually had another ending that is really bleak. Bleak. I didn’t hate it, because I’m used to films that are more melancholy. But I don’t think it went down well with audiences.

When asked how bleak the original Eternals ending was, Chloé Zhao said, “It used to end with everybody back on the ship, minds erased and just going on to another planet, like The Twilight Zone. I remember when it goes to black, everyone was like, ‘I don’t know what to do.’ And also, it’s the MCU, and you want to be excited for what’s next.“

Starring Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, Lia McHugh, Brian Tyree Henry, Lauren Ridloff, Barry Keoghan, Don Lee, Kit Harington, Salma Hayek and Angelina Jolie, Eternals follows “a group of ancient heroes from beyond the stars who had protected Earth since the dawn of man. When monstrous creatures called Deviants, long thought lost to history, mysteriously return, the Eternals are forced to reunite in order to defend humanity once again.” You can check out a review of Eternals from our own JimmyO right here. You can also let us know what you thought of the film as well. We already know that Eternals will make the leap to Disney+ early next year and it was announced earlier this month that it will be released on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD on February 15, 2022.