The Thing star Kurt Russell reflects on the movie’s ambiguous ending more than four decades later. Released in 1982, John Carpenter’s sci-fi horror film remains a classic, and one of the most beloved projects of his career. Russell stars in the film as MacReady, one member of a doomed Antarctic research team, who faces off against a shape-shifting alien being. The final scene of the movie famously sees MacReady and Keith David’s Childs as the only survivors, though it’s not revealed which one is actually the alien.
In a recent interview on Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast, Russell shares how The Thing‘s ending came about.
The actor recalls there initially being some hesitancy on Carpenter’s part to end on such a downbeat, ambiguous, and potentially unsatisfying note, but that it eventually became clear it was the best possible option. Check out Russell’s full comment below:
“We talked about that, the ending of that movie, John and I, for a long, long time. We’d trade ideas for the end, write it out, and it was one of those things where John was concerned about it, doing a movie that you would see, for two hours plus, and bring you back to square one.
“We finally got to a point where, we’d try different things, and I just remember finally saying, ‘How about this one?’ and we’d try it, and I said, ‘John, I think this comes back to square one. I think that’s what it does.’ The only thing I could do was finish it with, ‘Why don’t we just sit here for a while and see what happens.’ It worked. It was the thing that it called for. It’s fun to hear people talk about that one, I must say, that’s a fun one.”
The Thing Cut Three Different Endings (& They Would Have Ruined The Movie)
The Thing is a beloved horror classic, but it wrote and filmed several different endings, all of which miss the point of the film and make it worse.
Why The Thing’s Ambiguous Ending Works So Well
While ambiguous endings can be frustrating if not handled well, The Thing‘s closing scene has worked in the film’s favor. By not revealing whether MacReady or Childs is the titular Thing, debates and theories have continued for decades. All of this has helped the film stand the test of time and remain an interesting topic of discussion.
The ending, of course, also plays into one of the film’s key themes about paranoia. The Thing ends with MacReady and Childs not trusting each other, and each man suspects the other of being the shape-shifting alien. After what they’ve each witnessed, it’s reasonable to assume that there’s nothing that will convince either one of the other’s identity. One particularly dour and perfectly acceptable interpretation of the film’s final moments is that neither man is the alien, and both will freeze to death because the lack of trust will prevent them from working together.
Carpenter has previously teased that he is the only one who knows the truth about The Thing‘s ending. Although it would be interesting to finally have a definitive answer from the man behind the film, the director’s comments suggest that he won’t be sharing his thoughts anytime soon. This is evidently for the best, and it may ensure that The Thing remains talked about for decades to come.
The Thing (1982)
A team of researchers set out to study an alien spacecraft found in Antarctica, where they also discover an alien body on the site. The alien buried in ice is actually alive and has the ability to imitate human form. The group must find a way to distinguish who the real person is from The Thing and stay alive. John Carpenter’s 1982 film is a remake of 1951’s The Thing from Another World and stars Kurt Russel as the hero RJ MacReady.
- Release Date
- June 25, 1982
- Director
- John Carpenter
- Cast
- T.K. Carter , David Clennon , Keith David , Kurt Russell , wilford brimley
- Rating
- R
- Runtime
- 109 minutes
- Genres
- Horror , Sci-Fi , Mystery
- Writers
- Bill Lancaster
- Budget
- $15 million
- Studio(s)
- Universal Pictures
- Distributor(s)
- Universal Pictures
- prequel(s)
- The Thing
- Franchise(s)
- The Thing
