Jordan Peele explains why the twist ending of Us had to happen

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

MAJOR SPOILERS for US. Consider yourself warned. US was released less than two weeks ago and looks to be another enormous success for Jordan Peele. The horror film follows a family on vacation who are confronted by their doppelgängers, and naturally, there are plenty of twists and turns as the events play out. While speaking on The Empire Podcast, Peele discussed the ending of the film and explained why it needed to happen the way it did.

In the beginning of US, a young Adelaide wanders off while on vacation with her parents at the beach and encounters her double, and the experience leaves her traumatized and unable to speak. Years later, the now adult Adelaide (Lupita Nyong'o) returns to the same beach with her own family and the double once again shows up to terrorize Adelaide and her family. At the end of the film, Peele throws one huge twist at us when it's revealed that the woman who we thought was Adelaide for the majority of the film was in fact the double. In a flashback to the opening scene, we discover that the double Adelaide met as a child had actually overpowered her and took her place. Jordan Peele explained to Empire why this was necessary.

This movie’s about maybe the monster is you. It’s about us, looking at ourselves as individuals and as a group. The protagonist in the movie is the surrogate for the audience, so it felt like at the end of the day, I wasn’t doing my core theme any justice if I wasn’t revealing that we have been the bad guy in this movie. We’ve been following the villain. I say villain lightly because I think there are many experiences of the film, and I think a lot of people go through a question of what is good and evil? Does that even exist? Both characters are lovable and terrifying, based on the lives they’ve led they’ve just sort of inverted the paths.

Jordan Peele also touched upon how the "nature vs. nurture" debate factors into the film. "I think one of the questions that’s raised is privilege, and the neglect that sort of presumption of deserved privilege requires," Peele said. "And when people are on the other side of it, when people have received the rough end of the nurture argument, and they rebel or act in violence or commit crimes on that side, is that evil or is that circumstance?" US is currently playing in theaters, so be sure to check out a review from our own Chris Bumbray.

What were your thoughts on the film's big twist? Did it work for you?