Netflix's The Old Guard concluded with some truly thrilling action and a twist reveal that perfectly sets up a sequel - so here's a breakdown of everything that happened in that ending. Created Greg Rucka and Leandro Fernández, the story began as a comic book series. Released in 2017, The Old Guard Vol 1: Opening Fire was published by Image Comics and ran for five issues. Well received by critics and comic book fans alike, Rucka and Fernández have since produced a follow-up, The Old Guard Vol 2: Force Multiplied. Despite some delays due to the coronavirus pandemic, the second five-issue run is set to conclude in 2020.
Extremely faithful to the source material, The Old Guard was adapted by Netflix and centers on a group of immortals. Led by Andromache of Scythia, aka Andy (Charlie Theron), the group is revealed to have spent centuries fighting for humanity. After countless wars, the film picks up in the present day with the disparate group working generally as mercenaries. Against Andy's better judgment, they accept a rescue mission from former CIA agent James Copley (Chiwetel Ejiofor). Unfortunately, the mission is revealed to be a trap that exposes their abilities to Steven Merrick (Harry Melling), a ruthless businessman who seeks to exploit them for financial gain.
The group's mission to avoid capture is further complicated by the emergence of a new immortal: Nile Freeman (KiKi Layne). Furthermore, in the film's third act it's revealed that Andy has lost her powers. Despite this, Andy remains resolved to defeat Merrick and rescue her captured friends. Similarly, Nile overcomes her hesitation to leave her known world behind and cements her position on the team by fighting alongside Andy. They are joined by Copley and Booker (Matthias Schoenaerts) - both of whom seek to atone for their past betrayals. Emerging victorious and once again free of persecution, the team shifts into a new status quo with a renewed sense of purpose. However, with a final sting in the tail revealing the return of a long lost figure from Andy's past, several questions remain for a potential sequel.
How & Why Andy Loses Her Immortality
Midway through The Old Guard, Andy realized that a stab wound she had suffered wasn't healing. The fact that she had lost her immortality was hammered home when she was shot by Booker. Though he was betraying the team, he still believed that she would merely heal. When she didn't, Copley questioned how she'd lost her powers. The film doesn't offer an answer to that question; it's only stated that immortals lose their power as randomly as they get it. This is not determined by age, the number of immortals in the world, the number of injuries accumulated, or anything else. The characters believe that they have a set time and it's just a matter of getting to that moment. Rucka created the original comic with no desire to delve into how it all works, but rather to deal with the emotional fallout and turmoil immortality provokes. As such, how Andy lost her powers will likely not be explored - barring the potential that a looming enemy will have found a way to switch the ability off in the world of the film adaptation.
The why of it all, however, can easily be discovered in the themes of the film. When the film picks up, Andy expresses that she is tired of life and believes that the world is beyond help. In short, Andy had lost her faith - in both humanity and her mission. By being rendered mortal, however, she once again gets a taste of how precious life actually is. As a character states, "Life means nothing if it isn't worth living." By losing her power to live forever, Andy rediscovers her will to live. Furthermore, she resolves to live to the fullest, knowing it now to be finite.
That shift in attitude is only further cemented by the new knowledge of how her actions have helped. Having been immersed in the battles themselves and then moved on, Andy had never been privy to the bigger picture. She is ultimately introduced to that by Copley, who reveals how each person she saved led in turn to a monumental benefit to humanity. Though the true source of the team's immortality won't be fully revealed, it remains clear that there is a higher power at work and an element of destiny at play. As such, Andy losing her immortality is likely part of this destiny - a necessary development to get her to where she needs to go next. That fact is made all the more apparent in the scene with the chemist, during which Andy is treated with kindness and compassion. Her new vulnerable state directly led her to a moment that further reminded her of the good that humanity can be capable of. In turn, she once again vowed to fight on their behalf.
The Old Guard's New Team & Booker's Exile
Following the death of Merrick and the defeat of his forces, the group finally received the freedom to reassess. Though Booker had been brought along on the operation to save their friends, his betrayal of the team hadn't been forgotten. Equally, except for Nile's willingness to let it go with an apology, it hadn't been forgiven. Ordinarily, Andy would have executed him. However, since Booker was immortal, the team instead voted to exile him for 100 years. Though immortals never know when they will be rendered mortal again, it's expected that Booker will easily live until that time - being a mere few centuries old compared to the others. Given that Andy is no longer immortal, however, she and Booker parted ways believing it to be the last time they will see each other.
Nile herself opted to stay with the team and effectively take over his spot. Though she spent the film wanting to return to her family and her old life, that all changed in The Old Guard's third act. Seeing first hand the signs of a higher power working through the immortals' actions, she committed herself to join them. To that end, they will also be joined by Copley. He will serve as something of the group's handler as they more fully become an active, independent black ops team. Therefore, going into a possible sequel, the team will be comprised of Andy, Joe, Nicky, Nile, and Copley. However, given the credits scene, it's likely that Booker will return to the fold far sooner than the exile dictated - or end up working against them again, if Quyhn's time underwater has turned her evil. There is also the possibility that even further immortals will emerge in future films.
Why Copley Really Switched Sides
Copley's backstory was more extensively fleshed out on the screen. While his comic book counterpart's betrayal was merely driven by a paycheck, Ejiofor's iteration is infinitely more tragic. Having lost his wife to ALS, his grief pushed him to try and help free humanity of disease - and spare people having to go through what he did. In pursuit of that goal, he helped to turn the immortals over to Merrick. However, it became clear to Copley that Merrick's aims weren't anywhere near as altruistic as his own - but merely driven by potential profits. He also witnessed first-hand the immoral nature of the doctors conducting the tests on Joe (Marwan Kenzari) and Nicky (Luca Marinelli) and the outright sadism of Merrick when he stabbed them for personal enjoyment.
By this point, Copely had already accumulated a wealth of evidence regarding the good that Andy and her team had accomplished. He stated that the good born from the group's actions had grown exponentially over the centuries. Though he had attempted to speed things up by having the immortals forcibly used to aid humanity, he reaffirmed that there was a higher pattern to their journeys. Furthermore, he was impacted by the fact that Andy had lost her powers but still strived to do the right, heroic thing. He was moved by the fact that Andy would still fight and put herself on the line for humanity, even as a mortal. As a result, it no doubt became a choice of how he could better honor his wife's memory and similarly help the world. Under those terms, helping Andy and her group was a decision that best fits with Copley's morals. Equally, it was the truest way to redeem himself for his initial betrayal.
How Quynh Escaped & What Her Plan Is
In one of The Old Guard's most harrowing moments, the backstory of Quynh (Veronica Ngo) was revealed to have culminated in a fate worse than death. After spending centuries together, Quynh and Andromache were captured and tried as witches. They were killed together in several ways but kept coming back. Though the pair initially believed they were to be burned at the stake next, a much crueler fate awaited Quynh when the door of their cell was opened. Greeted by the sight of the medieval torture device known as an iron maiden, the ageless warrior was locked inside and thrown into the sea. There, she was doomed to drown over and over again.
Why Andy didn't suffer a similar fate is unclear, but she revealed that she escaped soon after. Despite Andy's best efforts, she was never able to recover her lost companion. The end of the film revealed, however, that Quynh was actually free of her hellish prison and was now pursuing an agenda of her own. The timeline of Quynh's freedom is purposefully hazy. When Nile first emerged as an immortal, she had dreams of the others. With them having similar ones of her, Andy states that the dreams signal a new immortal and that they need to find each other. Niles mentions Quynh having been a part of her dream - that she could see her still locked in her coffin and feel the madness that had ravaged the fallen warrior as a result. As such, unless the vision was more metaphorical than the others, Quynh was still trapped for most of the film's events. However, her casually drinking water implies she has long moved passed any lingering feelings of trauma the liquid could understandably provoke.
Equally unclear is just how Quynh escaped her fate. Though the comics could have provided an insight into that fact, the film made several changes to the character. Firstly, the character was initially Japanese and named Noriko. When Ngo was cast, however, the character was made Vietnamese and the name changed accordingly. Secondly, the comic book established that she was merely washed overboard during a storm rather than knowingly trapped underwater. As a result, the details of Qunyh's escape will entirely be a product of the movie version and likely revealed in the sequel. Nile did also mention, however, that she saw Quynh pounding at her containment with fists and knees. As such, it could be that metal degradation and her ceaseless resolve across 500 years eventually just bore fruit.
Given the changes from the source material, the exact nature of Quynh's plan could also undergo multiple changes. However, the reasons behind it will likely be the same. In the source material, she comes to believe that it's the purpose of the immortals to punish and torment humans rather than protect and guide them. That ideology lends itself well to the film's additional detail of Quynh having suffered at the hands of humanity. Between clashes, she even tries to recruit Andy to her way of thinking. By turning to Booker, it's clear that Qunyh is seeking a way to Andy - either for direct revenge for having never been rescued or to make an immortal team more in line with her goals for humanity.
How The Old Guard Sets Up A Sequel Movie
The potential for future sequels is as seemingly endless as the lives of the immortals. In many ways, The Old Guard could be construed as something of an origin story. Now that the characters and the dynamics have been established, a sequel could offer up a truly personal adventure straight out of the gate. The return of Quynh will certainly lend itself to the personal nature of the story. Equally, being able to track down Booker implies she has some considerable resources behind her. As such, whatever the film version of her plan turns out to be, it'll be equally explosive. The inclusion of Quynh also offers the opportunity for a more nuanced villain than offered by Merrick. As director Gina Prince-Bythewood herself told Collider: "The sequence Quynh, for me was really emotional and I cared about this woman caught in this horrible existence of drowning for 500 years. The psychology of that alone... I wanted to know what happened." Most fans will likely agree and thus be conflicted by the somewhat understandable views of Quynh, even as she stands against the heroes.
The ending of the first also sets up a proper redemption for Booker. Based on the comics, he will have a hard time at the hands of Quynh as she tries to track down Andy. With Copley also on-board now, there are also ample opportunities for new missions to arise through him and his contacts - allowing even more action and explosive elements to emerge. Prince-Bythewood also stated that "there's certainly more story to tell" and that "Greg [Rucka] always envisioned this as a trilogy." Given everything above, it's clear that there's plenty already in place for future The Old Guard installments - as well as plenty of intrigue surrounding both centuries of untold history and what kind of world Andy's team will end up forging.