The ending of A Quiet Place: Day One will probably break your heart, but don’t let the tears distract you from all the clues it offers about the future of the horror saga.
“I was excited about the ending, which many people would consider risky, and I hope we pulled it off,” director Michael Sarnoski told Discussing Film.
“I’m happy with it. That’s how I feel when I look at it. But it’s a delicate matter, it’s definitely risky,” he added.
The prequel made a splash at the box office with a record-breaking opening weekend, despite having no major connection to the two previous films, and has so far grossed over $221 million at the worldwide box office.
While we wait for A Quiet Place 3, the film moves the action to New York City and follows Samira (Lupita Nyong’o) and Eric (Joseph Quinn), as well as Samira’s cat Frodo, as they try to survive and escape the city before it’s too late.
Even though the Abbott family is not involved, one could still expect some connection to the predecessors, especially considering the situation of the new characters at the time of the first two films.
So let’s dive deeper into the events of A Quiet Place: Day One and its ending to explain how the film ties into the previous two films, especially the sequel A Quiet Place Part II.
Significant spoiler in advance.
When does “A Quiet Place: Day One” take place?
In case the title doesn’t give it away, A Quiet Place: Day One begins on the very first day of the alien invasion and the events span approximately the next four days.
This means that the film takes place more than a year before most of the events of A Quiet Place and A Quiet Place Part II.
There is one exception, as the sequel begins with the first day of the invasion and then jumps to day 474, immediately after the events of the first film. However, the beginning of Part II takes place in Millbrook, New York rather than New York City, so don’t expect any overlap.
However, we do see a character from Part II in A Quiet Place: Day One: Djimon Hounsou’s Man on Island, who we now know is named Henri. He is in New York City with his family when the invasion begins, and crosses path with Samira before playing a major role later on.
So let’s dive into that important connection to Part II at the end of A Quiet Place: Day One. Final warning for major spoiler in advance.
A Quiet Place: The End of Day One Explained – How It Relates to Part II
In the opening scene, it is revealed that Samira has terminal cancer, and when the invasion begins, she has only one goal in mind: to return to the pizzeria she went to with her father to have one last slice of pizza.
After meeting Eric, she initially tries to get him to leave and head to the harbor to board the boats evacuating people from New York City. However, he refuses to go and accompanies her on the trip to get pizza.
In the end, she is grateful for this, because after her medication is destroyed in one of the alien attacks, Eric embarks on a dangerous mission to get her a painkiller while she rests in a church with other survivors.
Eric returns with her medication and the next day they go looking for Patsy’s Pizzeria. Unfortunately, when they get there, it has been destroyed in the attacks and the pizza is long gone.
They go to the nearby jazz club that Samira used to go to with her father, and in a beautiful scene, Eric picks up a random pizza from a nearby restaurant that is still in one slice, scribbles “Patsy’s” on the box, and they enjoy a slice of pizza from “Patsy’s Pizzeria.”
From the jazz club, Samira notices boats leaving the harbor and sets off to board them. However, when they are cornered by aliens, Samira creates a diversion so that Eric – and most importantly Frodo – can get to the boats.
Luckily for them, Henri is on one of the boats that is just leaving. When he notices the commotion at the dock, he stops the boat in time so that Eric can swim there with Frodo.
Samira then goes to Patsy’s Pizzeria, which has burned out. After one last look at a photo of her with her father (who is wearing the same yellow cardigan as in the movie, which she gives to Eric before leaving him), she heads out into the street.
While listening to “Feeling Good,” Samira purposefully takes out her iPod headphones and an alien lands behind her as Day One comes to an end.
Nyong’o told People that she loved that Samira “had agency until the end and went her own way.”
“I think (writer and director) Michael Sarnoski wanted to tell a very risky story,” she added. “And it shows once again that even when life falls apart, there’s still more life to live until it’s not there anymore.”
“Sam regains her agency and her joy, and I think trying to feel that way while watching her choose to die on her own terms was kind of the fun challenge of it,” Sarnoski himself explained in an interview with Discussing Film.
“I was excited about the ending, which many would consider risky, and I hope we pulled it off. I’m happy with it. That’s how I feel when I look at it. But it’s a delicate matter, it’s definitely risky,” he added.
But before that happens, we see Eric safely on the boat with Frodo. In the pocket of the cardigan, he finds a letter that Samira has written to him. In it, she thanks him for “bringing him home” and asks him to look after Frodo.
This is where the connection to Part II comes into play, because as luck would have it, Eric and Frodo end up on Henri’s boat. From the sequel, we know that Henri made it to an island where he built a refuge for survivors.
Henri’s boat was one of only two that made it, so Eric chose wisely. Although we obviously don’t see Eric (or Frodo) in Part II, as Day One didn’t exist then, we can assume he made it to the island in one piece, too.
This is certainly also the opinion of the author and director Michael Sarnoski.
“A lot of those people probably ended up on the island,” he told the Hollywood Reporter.
“I think there’s a good chance they’re there, and there’s definitely a good chance we’ll see them again.”
Whether he survived the alien attack on the island at the end of Part II is another question. But since it was Day 477, Eric at least had more than a year of peace before he had to fight for his life again.
And after everything he’s been through, we believe he deserves it.
For more information about “A Quiet Place: Day One” visit:
• A Quiet Place: Day One Review
• How long is “A Quiet Place: Day One”?
• Does the cat die in A Quiet Place: Day One?
• Everything you need to know about A Quiet Place 3
• How to watch A Quiet Place: Day One
A Quiet Place: Day One is in theaters now.
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