Leave The World Behind: GH’s Final Theory (& If He’s Right) Addressed By Director

Warning: SPOILERS ahead for Leave the World Behind!

Leave the World Behind director Sam Esmail opened up about G.H.’s theory at the end of the movie, discussing if he was right about everything going on. During the final minutes of the film, G.H. theorizes the cyberattack and other odd events transpiring are part of a nationwide destabilization process. He indicates the plan is likely happening from the inside – a military coup against the United States.

Speaking on The Big Picture Podcast, Esmail addressed whether or not G.H. is right about his theory during Leave the World Behind‘s ending. Check out what Esmail had to say below:

So that was tricky because when G.H. draws that conclusion, I remember when I wrote it I was like, okay, for the people that need some answer, this I thought was an answer that could feel satisfying yet still mysterious. Plausible but unconfirmed. And so – because, again, I did not want to pull punches. I think, look, we’re 3 years out from Covid, we still don’t know what the f*** happened, how this happened, and there’s no confirmed answer as to why this occurred. So I think it is realistic to have your theories – to have good theories – but I resisted just saying ‘Well, this is it.’ And what’s funny is, when people get upset about that, and say, ‘Well, what is this? Who did this? What was behind this?’ I always say, ‘Okay, well let’s say I had Mahershala [Ali] say ‘It was Russia.’ Would that make the movie better for you?I don’t think they want to answer too. Because I’m telling you, every time I have that conversation with a person who reacted that way, when I would put it to them like that, they were sort of like, ‘Yeah, that’s not…that wouldn’t make sense, that’s not what would satisfy.’ It would actually make it worse! And so for me, it’s the discomfort of not knowing. That’s what this movie’s about. And hopefully that provocation, like I said earlier, sits with them after they’ve left the theater or turned it off Netflix or whatever. And then they kind of come around to it.

More to come…