WARNING: Major spoilers for Bodyguard ahead.
Bodyguard season 1 comes to an end with a nail-bitingly tense finale full of twists and turns. A smash TV hit when it aired over the summer in the UK on BBC, the series has now made its way to Netflix to give the entire world a chance to be stirred by it's shaking story.
Starring Richard Madden as protection officer David Budd, opposite Keeley Hawes as Home Secretary Julia Montague, Bodyguard has proven to be a huge hit for the BBC, with social media full of questions that we all wanted answers to.
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Thankfully, the finale addressed nearly all of them, though that also meant there was a lot to take in. What exactly happened at the end of Bodyguard, and what's going to happen next? Allow us to explain.
- This Page: Julia's Death & Bodyguard's Real Villains
- Page 2: Bodyguard's Ending & What's Next
Julia Montague is Really Dead At The End of Bodyguard
Let's address the question of Julia's mortality right off the bat: she really is dead. It would have been pretty hard for anyone to survive a bomb blast like that, especially when they were standing right on top of it, but it was also hard to believe that showrunner Jed Mercurio would kill off one of the main stars halfway through a season run. But he did exactly that, and what's more, he's got form for killing off Keeley Hawes; he also killed her character off in Line of Duty.
Mercurio says he did it to alter the dynamic of Bodyguard, which it certainly did. While it was fun to speculate whether she'd make a comeback, it's actually better that dead means dead.
Who Killed Julia in Bodyguard?
There were many possible suspects in Bodyguard for who planted the bomb that killed Julia, with the Secret Service being the prime suspects. As it turned out, though, it wasn't the Secret Service, or a Jihadist group, but a criminal gang leader by the name of Luke Aitkens who arranged for the bombing to take place. Julia was working to pass a bill through Parliament called RIPA 18 that, had it gone through, would have seen more power transfer from the police to the Secret Service. It was revealed that Lorraine Craddock (Pippa Haywood), David's boss in the police, had been Luke Aitkens' inside informant for years, handing over information on police activity that could threaten his criminal plans. Neither party could afford for Julia's bill to pass, as the Secret Service would be much harder to penetrate, and Lorraine would no longer have access to such information.
It was Lorraine who told Luke of the plans for Julia's speech and the security arrangements, enabling him to have the device planted. Tahir Mahmood, whom many suspected of being involved, was entirely innocent; his only job was to deliver an alternative speech to Julia which was full of errors. That was merely a political ploy to make her look incompetent, not to kill her. In her police interview, Lorraine explained that she felt David Budd would make the perfect fall guy.
Nadia Was Not Innocent In Bodyguard
In the Bodyguard, everybody was all fooled by Nadia (Anjli Mohindra), who played the terrified, submissive wife of a terrorist so well. When David carefully approached her on the train and talked her out of detonating her bomb, it appeared that Nadia was genuinely full of remorse and wanting to help the police with their inquiries. However, that was all an elaborate act, and Nadia was, in fact, a skilled engineer who not only built the bomb she was wearing on the train, but also the one that was driven into David's kids' school, as well as the one that killed Julia. Though she despised Luke Aitkens, she was happy to supply him with a bomb if it meant more money to help her cause and the murder of innocent westerners.
David's leading questions proved to be counterproductive to the investigation, since Nadia could tell him all he wanted to hear, including making up the story of her husband meeting Richard Longcross to collect a suicide vest. As for the attack on the school where David's kids were pupils, that was Nadia's personal doing, and, it seems, her act of revenge on David for thinking she was a weak woman. When he showed her pictures of his kids as a way of talking her out of the train bombing, she made a point of remembering the logo on their school uniforms, and then tracking them down.
Page 2 of 2: Bodyguard's Ending & What's Next
What Was The Big Deal Over Bodyguard's Kompromat?
The word kompromat was used an awful lot in Bodyguard. But, as fancy as it sounds, really it's just an amalgamation of the words compromising material; documents, videos, or recordings that could compromise someone's position. In this instance, the kompromat was information on the Prime Minister including drug abuse, a sexual assault scandal, and financial wrongdoings. Julia had made a deal with the Secret Service; she promised them greater powers under the RIPA 18 act if they gave her access to the kompromat, allowing her to effectively bring down the Prime Minister and launch a leadership bid.
After Julia's death, the Secret Service needed to get the kompromat back because its existence would implicate them in the attempted coup. Richard Longcross realized that David must have it. David knew he'd go looking, and told the police of its whereabouts, knowing Longcross would be listening in. That led Longcross to David's apartment, where he got a face full of pepper spray, but no kompromat. Though it was never properly shown or explained, at some point David moved the kompromat from its hiding place in his apartment and burying it in the yard. While trapped in a suicide vest, David lead the police and his wife, Vicky, to the site, where she dug it up and handed it over. The police then leaked the kompromat information, resulting in resignations from the Prime Minister and the head of the Secret Service.
Who Changed The Bullets in David's Gun?
David's battle with PTSD was highlighted repeatedly throughout Bodyguard, and it was great to see him finally accessing the help he needed. Before he got that, though, he tried to take his own life after Julia's death, only for the bullet in his gun to be a blank. It was eventually revealed that his bullets were swapped out by people working for Luke Aitkens; knowing they'd want David around to be their fall guy, they couldn't take the risk of him taking such a drastic action.
It's a bit of a lame explanation, in all honesty. How did Aitkens know David had suicidal tendencies? How did he know he'd turn to his gun when Julia died? One suggestion is that Aitkens wasn't actually trying to prevent a suicide attempt; he was more concerned that David would try to use the gun on him. After all, David made sure he was armed for his and Chanel's "date" and Aitkens made a point of asking him what the gun was loaded with, knowing it was blanks.
What Next For Bodyguard In Season 2?
Bodyguard gave a happy ending of sorts for David, who accessed psychiatric help for his PTSD. He also seemed to be on track for getting back together with Vicky and was seeing his kids regularly. Lorraine Craddock and Luke Aitkens were charged and presumably imprisoned, the Prime Minister and head of Secret Service both resigned, and Anne Sampson remained as the head of the Metropolitan Police.
At the time of writing, no Bodyguard season 2 has been confirmed just yet, although Mercurio has said he's in discussions with the BBC for more of the show, which, he hopes, could lead on to 3 or 4 seasons. Madden would hopefully be back as David Budd; Mercurio has suggested we might see him on duty protecting a member of the Royal Family or a foreign dignitary.