Warning: This article both contains SPOILERS for A Quiet Place: Day One and discussions of suicide.

Though it may result in one character’s demise, Michael Sarnoski views A Quiet Place: Day One‘s ending as a hopeful one. The horror prequel takes place on the first day of the sound-hunting alien invasion and primarily centers on Lupita Nyong’o’s Sam and Joseph Quinn’s Eric as they try to find a way to escape New York City and learn how to avoid the extraterrestrials. Hailing from Pig breakout Sarnoski, who co-developed the story with original director John Krasinski, the Quiet Place spinoff has garnered largely positive reviews from critics and is already off to a strong start at the box office.

During a recent interview with GamesRadar+ to discuss the movie’s release, Sarnoski broke down the Quiet Place: Day One ending. In looking particularly at Sam’s decision to take her life at the end of the horror prequel, the writer/director describes it as a far more hopeful one than the “bleak” one it is on paper, feeling that Sam is able to “find some joy towards the end of her life“. See what Sarnoski explained below:

This ending was pretty early on part of how I imagined this movie playing out. I thought it was important to honor the fact that this is a story about a dying person – and we’re not going to change that. We’re not going to try and sugarcoat that. But it’s about someone who sort of finds agency and find some joy towards the end of her life. I wanted an ending that on paper seems kind of bleak, just like the rest of the movie. In the end, she commits suicide, but I wanted it to feel triumphant and feel like this was her decision. And this was something that she earned over the course of this story.

How A Quiet Place: Day One’s Ending Continues One Of The Franchise’s Best Trend

Having successfully raced through the alien-infested streets of New York City, the Quiet Place: Day One ending delivers two very different emotions for viewers. As Sarnoski discusses, Nyong’o’s Sam parts ways with Quinn’s Eric, having initially attempted to sacrifice herself to distract the horde of aliens coming to attack the ship full of passengers attempting to escape and leaving a note for Eric thanking him for reminding her to live after her issues processing her terminal illness. While Eric and the boat are able to escape the city, Sam walks through an empty street, smiling as she unplugs her iPod to draw the creatures toward her.

Despite being a seemingly heartbreaking closure for Sam, A Quiet Place: Day One‘s ending actually continues one of the franchise’s best trends by finding hope in an otherwise seemingly bleak situation. The first movie memorably ended with Krasinski’s Lee sacrificing himself to draw an alien away from the truck his children are hiding in, but sees Emily Blunt’s Evelyn and Millicent Simmonds’ Regan finding a way to weaken the creatures. The Quiet Place: Part II ending similarly saw the peaceful island colony devastated by one creature, but Regan successfully broadcasting the high-pitched frequency from her hearing aid for others to weaponize against the aliens.

While self-sacrificial endings don’t have to be an exclusively sad way to close out a story, the Quiet Place movies have certainly done a very skilled job at finding the right balance between the heartbreaking emotion of seeing a fan-favorite character go while leaving a hopeful note for the viewer. Though it’s unclear whether the franchise will continue to take an anthological approach after A Quiet Place: Day One or if Krasinski’s proposed third mainline Quiet Place movie will be made next, the best way for the horror series to retain its critical heights is to maintain the same emotional balance of the first three movies.

Source: GamesRadar+