Warning: This post contains spoilers for Beast

Beast ending explained. Directed by Baltasar Kormákur from a screenplay by Ryan Engle (who worked off a story by Jaime Primak Sullivan), Beast stars Idris Elba as a man who must face off with a vicious lion gone rogue. The film is a survival thriller at its heart, packed with action, suspense, and a final battle between Elba's character and the vengeful lion out for blood.

Beast builds up to an ending that sees Idris Elba’s Dr. Nate Samuels fighting the rogue lion, whose rampage left several of the film’s characters dead or injured, including Nate’s eldest daughter Mer. Nate and his daughters manage to survive the night, making it to the abandoned school where they hoe up for a while. However, the lion is still on the hunt, dissatisfied that Nate and his family are still alive. When the animal appears at the school, Nate comes up with a plan to lure him to the pride of lions they passed the day before and fight him in front of the other big cats. The battle goes on for a bit, with the lion scratching and clawing at Nate. After several injuries, the two male lions from the pride finally join the fight, taking on the rogue creature in a mighty lion battle. Despite his injuries, Nate survives thanks to the arrival of Banji, an employee of the reserve.

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Beast’s ending sees Nate reuniting with his daughters. Although their trip didn’t turn out like they planned, the family was back together and closer than ever because of their ordeal. The survival thriller’s conclusion reveals a lot more about the story than what’s on the surface. Here is Beast’s ending explained, including why Nate kept seeing his wife in his dreams.

The Lion’s Revenge Plot Reveals Beast’s True Villains

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While the lion is set up as Beast’s primary antagonist, the poachers who went after it at the start of the film are the true villains. If they hadn’t been hunting to kill the pride of the rogue lion, the big cat — with its actions comparable to John Wick’s acts of vengeance — would not have sought revenge on them to begin with. The poachers represent a very real-life problem that sees such groups hunting, capturing, and killing wild animals illegally. The poachers in the survival thriller were trespassing on the game preserve, seeking the lions to kill and likely sell their skin, bones, and other body parts on the black market. The lion’s revenge also showcases how, when provoked, wild animals can and will fight back against those who harm them.

Why Nate Fought The Lion In Front Of Another Pride

beast idris elba

Early on in Beast, Martin mentioned that the male lions would do whatever it took to protect their pride from an external threat. It was the law of the jungle. Out of options, Nate realized he had to take a chance by luring the rogue lion in front of the pride. The medical doctor knew that the other two lions would eventually see the other big cat as a major threat to their pride. Wanting nothing more than to protect their pride, the lions face off against one another in a deathly match, shifting the rogue lion’s focus away from Nate once and for all. It’s a clever plan that pits the animals against each other in their natural habitat, one that doesn’t involve humans. Historically, male lions have fought each other over pride domination. Typically, the male lions protect the pride while the female lions hunt. Nomadic male lions might wander into another pride and take over, killing the other male lions and any of their cubs to reproduce with the females themselves. In Beast, the lions rise to the fight because they see their rogue counterpart as a threat that might take over their pride and kill them.

Nate’s Dreams Explained: Why He Kept Seeing His Wife

beast nate idris elba

Throughout the survival thriller, Nate dreams of his wife. In his dreams, Nate was often in search of her but couldn’t find her. When he was close, he would wake up, startled by what he’d just seen. It’s possible Nate kept dreaming of his wife because of his remorse. He blamed himself for not seeing the signs of her illness sooner, especially as he’s a doctor. What’s more, Nate is always heard asking his wife where she is. It’s likely these dreams are meant to reveal his state of mind to the audience, as well as foreshadow what’s to come. Nate wants to find his wife throughout Beast because he feels lost, out of his depth when it comes to his family and their trip, and worried that he’ll never be able to make amends. In the final dream, however, Nate finds his wife, who tells him that everything is going to be okay. This particular dream references his relief at being reunited with his family, whereas all of his previous dreams were filled with worry and a sense of anxiousness. The dreams ultimately foreshadowed that, despite Nate’s feelings of unease, things were going to get tough, but turn out in his family’s favor.

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What Beast’s Ending Really Means

beast idris elba real meaning

Nate going toe-to-toe with the lion at the end of Beast is a metaphor for facing his past. Throughout the survival movie, Nate is forced to reckon with not only the fact that he couldn’t be there for his wife while she was sick, but that he didn’t see the signs of her illness before it was too late. By not being able to protect his wife, Idris Elba's character also felt he had failed his daughters. Nate blamed himself for the turmoil Mer and Norah were feeling about their mother’s death and his leaving them behind, as well as not being able to prevent his wife’s passing regardless of their separation. By battling the lion, Nate is able to make some sort of peace with himself and his perceived failures. He was also able to protect his daughters, an act he couldn’t complete before because he left his family behind. In Beast, Nate essentially sacrifices himself to save Mer and Norah from the lion. Nate knew he was taking a risk, but he also knew that he was the only person who could step up to protect his family. In many ways, fighting the great lion was the medical doctor’s chance at redemption. He had to face the trauma of his past that was represented in the lion, which followed him wherever he went. Nate was not safe until he confronted the rogue lion at the end of Beast. It was the only way he was able to move forward with a clean conscience, shedding his past mistakes to be there for his family in a way he wasn’t able to before the events of the film.