*SPOILER WARNING* FOR THE LOVE OF GOD YOU ARE ENTERING THE THUNDERDOME OF SPOILER TERRITORY**
SPLIT, the horror/thriller about a man with 23 distinct personalities (James McAvoy) preparing for the unveiling of a monstrous 24th, is officially out now and has been met with the best reviews and box office numbers of any M. Night Shyamalan movie since 2002’s SIGNS. But the redemption of Shyamalan isn’t even the biggest shock to come out of this movie, with the prize going to the jaw-dropping, seizure-inducing-at-its-most-awesome ending. No one was expecting it, and people are already begging for answers. Luckily, Shyamalan is wasting no time gracing us with a response.
You have five seconds to look away. 5…4..3…2…1. You have entered the aforementioned Thunderdome.
Okay, so at the end of the movie we learn that some of Kevin’s (McAvoy) personalities were not lying when they said “Then Beast” was real. He biologically morphs into a uber-strong, near-indestructible, monstrous version of himself and, despite a few shotgun blasts from Casey (Anya Taylor-Joy), ran off and is ready to wreak havoc. A news report then informs people that a madman is on the loose, and because of his personality disorder is being referred to as “The Horde.” Customers at a diner were watching the report, and we follow the bar down the line as one woman tries to remember the name of a similar supervillain figure that was put away some years ago, all before a bald man – played by Bruce f@cking Willis – reminds her his name was “Mr. Glass.” That’s right, this was an UNBREAKABLE movie all along! Shyamalan, you little devil!
Shyamalan, the mastermind behind this most epic of mic drops, wasted no time talking about the ending saying it was always the plan with SPLIT, and was even an idea that went back to UNBREAKABLE itself. But, as would seem like a logical conclusion, Shyamalan realized a third character was one too many and cut the part out.
I had about 15-20 pages written [focusing on Kevin] and those scenes are all in [Split].
Since then he always wanted to do a sequel with the character, but didn’t know how to do it until SPLIT:
I said ‘Can we make a sequel that they don’t realize is a sequel? Can we make an origin story without telling them it’s an origin story until the last moment of the movie? So it plays as a thriller and becomes an origin story? So that was the idea from go.
Willis was down of course, as the director said he called the actor and Willis flew down to film his scene in one day. As well, Samuel L. Jackson (who played Mr. Glass) has been notified his character may return for more:
I’ve had all those conversations and it’s all good. For me it’s just about going back in the room, closing the door and hoping the demons don’t beat me.
I was absolutely floored when I saw the ending, as it acted not only as an open-ended finale to a great movie, but got the fanboy in me excited beyond all reasonable comprehension. I can see why some may see the ending overshadowed the film, or acted as blatant, unwarranted fan service, but ultimately this was Shyamalan giving audiences the UNBREAKABLE sequel(ish) they’ve always wanted, and they didn’t even know they were getting it! The master of the twist is back!
SPLIT is on theaters now, but you should already know that because unless you've seen it there's no reason you should be this far.
