The Watchers ends with the revelation that one of the characters is not who they initially appeared to be. Written and directed by Ishana Night Shyamalan, M. Night Shyamalan’s daughter, in her directorial debut, the supernatural horror is based on the book by A.M. Shine. The Watchers reviews have been mostly negative, though it’s possible this may not deter audiences from seeing the film. After learning about how to escape from the bunker, Madeline, Ciara, Daniel, and Dakota Fanning’s Mina follow the birds to the edge of the forest.

Although Mina, Ciara and Madeline manage to make it out alive, Daniel is killed by a Watcher who’s taken the form of Ciara’s ᴅᴇᴀᴅ husband, John. Back in Galway, Mina visits Professor Kilmartin’s office to destroy whatever information he had on the changelings. There, she learns about halflings and discovers the real Madeline has been ᴅᴇᴀᴅ for years. Madeline, a halfling, has taken on her form. Mina goes to Ciara with the information and is confronted by Madeline, who plans to kill them. Mina convinces her that she could find other halflings like her, and Madeline decides against killing her.

Madeline Was A Halfling All Along In The Watchers’ Ending Twist

Madeline hid the truth from everyone and almost got away with it

The biggest twist in The Watchers was that of Madeline being a halfling the entire time. The twist explains how she knew so much about the watchers, their history with people, their burrows, and the rules to stay alive in the forest. Unlike the rest of the watchers, however, Madeline was different because she was part human. Long ago, when the watchers were still living alongside people, some of them had children together. While it’s unclear which of Madeline’s parents was human, it’s possible the other watchers resent her because she represents, in part, the very people who banished them.

The Watchers’ ending also reveals that Madeline’s halfling form can walk in the light, and has a soft spot for humans despite wanting to kill Ciara and Mina at the end of the film. What’s more, Madeline wanted to escape the changelings just as much as the rest of the characters. She was treated like an anomaly, and made to feel like she wasn’t truly a watcher like the rest. Madeline ultimately used Professor Kilmartin’s desires against him, transforming into his ᴅᴇᴀᴅ wife only after she killed him. Madeline was able to leave her old life behind to start anew.

Who Are The Watchers? Supernatural Creature Mythology Explained

The Watchers have been around for a long time

For most of The Watchers, the supernatural creatures remained in shadow. A long finger here or a glowing eye there were the only indications of their true form. It wasn’t until Madeline explained who they were that their presence in the forest began to come into the light. The watchers — or changelings and fairies, as they were also called — are ancient creatures who had wings and magic. They once lived in harmony with humans, but an eventual war between the two led the human population to banish them to the burrows underground in the forest.

Having been below the earth for so long, the watchers lost their ability to use magic and their wings fell off. The Watchers doesn’t explain how the war came about exactly, or how the humans were able to lock them away, but they became vengeful, killing the people who found their way into the forest. Madeline’s wings return at the end of The Watcher, so it’s possible the watchers’ wings could sprout again eventually, but that might depend on whether they will ever be able to leave their forest prison.

Why Madeline Doesn’t Kill Mina & Ciara In The Watchers Ending

Madeline left them alive despite killing Kilmartin before

Madeline took Ciara’s form with the idea to kill Mina and Ciara after the former found out the truth. Madeline wanted to kill Mina and Ciara because their knowledge of her existence threatened her ability to live in the human world. Mina, however, had some compᴀssion for Madeline.

Mina knew what it was like to be lonely and to live separate from one’s family. Mina pushed Madeline to see outside of herself. Madeline had been by herself for so long that the idea of potentially finding other halflings like herself was substantial enough to get her to back off from killing Mina and Ciara.

What’s more, Madeline was also half human, which meant she felt all the things people felt — sadness, love, protectiveness — and that played into her not killing them. Deep down, Madeline had a soft spot for people, or she wouldn’t have tried to protect Mina, Ciara and Daniel from the other watchers the whole time. She wanted desperately to believe that she could find other halflings, but she might also have believed she couldn’t do it alone. Mina and Ciara could help, if Madeline actually let them.

The Reason Madeline Keeps The Bunker A Secret From The Humans

Madeline may have wanted to continue watching them

Madeline knew all along that Professor Kilmartin had a bunker. She was the watcher trapped in the video Mina and the others did, so she knew it existed and deliberately chose not to tell the others. If Madeline ultimately wanted to escape the forest and live in the world of people, why not let Mina and the others learn about the bunker earlier? It’s possible Madeline kept the bunker a secret so the other watchers could continue learning from them. If they were to also rejoin society, the creatures needed to master their mimicking so they wouldn’t get caught.

Perhaps Madeline felt that she owed at least that to the other watchers, despite their poor treatment of her. If they could continue getting what they wanted, maybe they would leave her to live her life. At the same time, there’s no indication that Madeline was coming back to free them at the end of The Watchers. Madeline seemed very protective of Mina, Ciara, and Daniel, and it would’ve made more sense had the halfling hid them in the bunker for better safety. It could also be that Madeline was simply playing the long game to keep up her ruse.

How The Watchers’ Ending Sets Up A Horror Sequel

The Film Leaves The Door Open For The Watchers To Return

The Watchers’ ending leaves Madeline’s story open-ended. While she doesn’t kill Mina or Ciara, the film concludes with Madeline being open to finding other halflings. Mina and her twin sister, Lucy, have also reunited. Both of these story endings suggest there may be more to come. Madeline leaves Mina alive and continues to watch her, which teases the changeling asking her for help in The Watchers 2. It’s possible they will use the remainder of Kilmartin’s research to search for clues, with the film leaving space to explore what’s next for Madeline now that she’s in the human world.

The Watchers Book Has A Sequel

A sequel might depend on how well The Watchers did at the box office, but there is already a sequel to The Watchers novel. A second book, Stay in the Light, was written by A.M. Shine, and it continues to focus on Mina following her escape from the watchers’ forest. The book sees Mina attempt to stop the watchers’ power from growing, even as people she knows start to disappear (via Harvard Book Store). With The Watchers sequel novel, Ishana Shyamalan will have plenty of content for another film.

What The Watchers Changes From The Book

The Watchers Makes A Few Major Adjustments

While there are bound to be certain changes, The Watchers stays fairly loyal to Shine’s book. However, one of the biggest changes from the book is in its ending. Madeline is still revealed as a watcher at the end, though in the book she warns Mina of the power of the watchers. Crucially, Shine doesn’t describe what the watchers look like, whereas in the film Shyamalan gives audiences a visual sH๏τ of them — at least from the back. Their faces may change, but the horror movie paints a picture of their original state before transforming.

The Real Meaning Of The Watchers’ Ending Explained

The Watchers posits that people are never who they appear to be. This theme is especially pertinent for Mina and Madeline, who are both good at mimicking and hiding things from others. Mina, with her wigs and voice mimicking, pretends to be people she’s not at the start of the film. Madeline also spends the majority of the movie being someone she’s not. The Watchers explores them both, but it isn’t until they’re both afraid and vulnerable that their true selves bubble to the surface. If anything, the film warns that people aren’t always who they say they are.

How The Watchers Ending Was Received

Critics Did Not Love The Ending Of The Watchers

The consensus among critics is mixed for the movie as a whole. There are those who applaud the use of Celtic myth combined with modern horror sentiments, but others have called the movie’s script “overstuffed.” It’s that overstuffed script that seems to contribute to the ending of The Watchers not being well-received by most critics or general audiences.

Mary Beth McAndrews of Dread Central called the movie an “ambitious debut” for Ishana Night Shyamalan. McAndrews, however, also stated that the movie never quite reaches “its full creepy potential.” Part of the problem for this particular reviewer is that the characters aren’t fleshed out enough earlier in the film, making the exposition that comes near the movie’s end too clunky.

That idea is echoed by Lyra Hale of Fangirlish who points out that Shyamalan’s movie features a style similar to her father’s and has a “hollow way of telling stories that lack true emotional depth and human connection.” Without getting to know the characters properly, the audience can’t connect with them when they really need to, making the exposition less effective. Hale did, however, greatly enjoy the use of folklore in the movie, which is what most viewers praised as well.

If there’s any consensus among critics at all, it’s that the top of the movie and the final reveal are not balanced. Ben Wᴀsserman of Comic Book Resources believes that the final act of the movie explains just a little too much, writing that the “tension is undercut by the final act.” Like other critics, Wᴀsserman ᴀsserts that the early part of the movie is ominous because less is known, while the sudden exposition robs the movie of the tension.

In short, the fault that most audience members and critics have found with The Watchers is not with the subject itself, but the execution of the ending. The build-up of the tension early in the movie is not paid off properly to make the experience as enjoyable as the audience wants it to be. It’s possible that a sequel could build on the story and feature a better payoff.

Will There Be A Sequel To The Watchers?

A Sequel Is Uncertain

Though The Watchers has been a divisive movie for critics, it is finding new life on streaming. With its fascinating concept, it could very well benefit from a sequel that would be able to delve more into the folklore teased in the first movie. Whether or not a sequel will materialize, however, is so far unknown.

While the movie was in theaters, Ishana Night Shyamalan said it was “too early” to talk about a sequel yet, but did express interest in playing in the genre more. She explained that she had been drawn to horror, and that, “this sort of fantasy horror intersection I think is really compelling and cool to me, and would love to go even deeper into that.” So, even if she does not make a sequel to The Watchers, it’s possible she will make similar movies that meld folklore and older fantasy concepts with ideas in modern horror.

The Watchers made just over $33 million at the worldwide box office (via Box Office Mojo). With its budget estimated at about $30 million, the movie did not turn a profit. 20 years ago that would almost guarantee no sequel would be made. Today, however, streaming plays a role in how studios examine movies. With studios essentially “leasing” their movies to streaming sites around the world, they also make a profit that way, and interest in watching the movie at home has been steadily increasing since it was made available.

Word of mouth is increasing eyeballs on the movie despite critical opinions, and the availability of it on digital platforms may cause interest in a sequel to The Watchers.