Warning! This article contains spoilers for Caught Stealing.

Caught Stealing ends with an important post-credits scene, one that contains a major cameo. As far as Darren Aronofsky movies go, the new crime thriller is quite different from his past efforts. However, Caught Stealing‘s movie reviews have proved that this has worked for Aronofsky, with the film being described as one of the filmmaker’s most purely fun in years.

The reason for this is likely Caught Stealing‘s crime-thriller tone. The film centers around Austin Butler’s Henry “Hank” Thompson, a former baseball prodigy who gets caught up in New York City’s criminal underworld after being unintentionally incriminated by his neighbor, Matt Smith’s Russ.

This leads Hank on a series of dangerous quests involving $4 million in drug money, Russian mobsters, Jewish gangsters, and corrupt cops. Caught Stealing has already etched its way into star Austin Butler’s best movies, with the ending of the film outlining why.

Several plot threads come back around in thematic fashion, allowing Hank to somehow evade the cycle of crime and violence he ended up in. This all culminates in a post-credits scene in Caught Stealing that wraps up a central theme of the movie, includes a major cameo, and sets up the potential for a sequel.

Caught Stealing’s Post-Credits Scene Explained

In the final sequence of Caught Stealing, Hank manages to flee New York City with the $4 million that Russ had agreed to split between the Jewish gangsters (Lipa and Shmully) and the Russian mob, who were working with the aforementioned corrupt police officer, Roman.

Roman, the Russians, Lipa, and Shmully all end up ᴅᴇᴀᴅ, allowing Hank to escape New York by impersonating Russ. Hank ends up in Mexico, where Roman once stated she wished to retire, but not after telling his mother where he was going and that he was innocent of the crimes he was framed for.

Hank’s mother appears solely by voice in several scenes throughout Caught Stealing, with the two sharing a strong bond and love of baseball. This leads to the post-credits scene in Caught Stealing, which somewhat concludes the storyline surrounding Hank and his mother.

In this scene, a delivery is shown being made to Hank’s mother in California. She opens the box and finds half of the $4 million inside, reeling in shock at the sudden injection of financial freedom. Caught Stealing ends shortly after.

Caught Stealing Stars Laura Dern In A Major Cameo

As alluded to, Hank’s mother only has a voice role throughout the entirety of Caught Stealing. She is heard talking to Hank several times on the phone, as well as leaving him multiple messages. In Caught Stealing‘s post-credits scene, though, a face is provided to match the voice.

At first, the post-credits scene in Caught Stealing is sH๏τ as though it will keep Hank’s mother’s idenтιтy a secret. However, the film opts for a polar opposite tactic by casting a major star in the uncredited cameo role: Laura Dern. Dern is perhaps best known for portraying Dr. Ellie Satler in the Jurᴀssic Park franchise, but her resume does not stop there.

Dern has been nominated for three Academy Awards, winning one for 2020’s Marriage Story. She has appeared in other major franchises like Star Wars and has had success in various big TV shows over the decades. On a more personal note, Butler revealed in an interview with Men’s Health that he and Dern were like kindred spirits upon meeting.

Butler lost his mother in 2014, who was apparently always told she looked like Dern. This led to a strong bond between the two, which manifests in Caught Stealing. Dern’s cameo is a nice way of addressing this personal connection between the two actors, all while wrapping up a major plot thread and a central relationship of the film.

How Caught Stealing’s Post-Credit Scene Sets Up A Sequel

Beyond the cameo from Dern, its implications for the actors, and how it wraps up a thread of the movie, Caught Stealing‘s post-credit scene also sets up a sequel. The film is based on a book of the same name by author Charlie Huston, who also wrote the screenplay for the adaptation. The original book has two sequels.

The first sequel is тιтled Six Bad Things and follows on from the plot of Caught Stealing. In the book, Hank is found in Mexico by a Russian backpacker who begins asking questions about the missing money, as well as Hank’s family. This leads Hank on a mission to save his family from the dark underworld he became involved in.

Caught Stealing‘s post-credits scene sets up this story, should the film earn enough at the box office to warrant a sequel. After all, Hank is in Mexico with one-half of the money that the mysterious Russian mob boss of New York desired, while the other half is in the hands of his mother.

Should Caught Stealing be profitable and a sequel based on Six Bad Things be greenlit, the post-credits scene of the former takes a different turn. Rather than simply being a moment that outlines Hank’s care for his mother, wraps up their storyline, and closes out the film, Caught Stealing‘s post-credits scene serves as ample setup for a crime-thriller sequel.