The 2009 horror cult classic Orphan is famous for its unexpected age-bending reveal, but its prequel, Orphan: First Kill, has an even better twist. First Kill is set two years before Orphan and tells the origin story of Leena, a dangerous Estonian woman who poses as a young orphan girl called Esther. Most of the Orphan: First Kill cast and characters did not appear in the original movie, except Isabelle Fuhrman who returns to play the manipulative Leena/Esther.
Orphan: First Kill shows how Leena created the Esther persona that she then uses in Orphan. Labeled as the most dangerous patient at an Estonian psychiatric hospital, Leena, a 31-year-old woman with a hormonal condition that makes her look like a young girl, uses her cunning to escape and evade capture by posing as an American child, Esther Albright, who had been reported as missing online for 4 years. When she is welcomed into the Albright home, Leena believes she has the family fooled that she really is their long-lost daughter, Esther, the centerpiece of the Orphan franchise, but not all is it what seems.
Once Leena arrives at the Albright home it feels as if Orphan: First Kill is just going to be a lazy rehash of the Orphan story by relying on the age reveal as its big twist, minus its shock value. But just as the prequel starts getting stale, First Kill subverts expectations by revealing that Esther's mom, Tricia (Julia Stiles), and brother, Gunnar (Matthew Finlan), both knew that Leena wasn't the real Esther the moment that they heard that "Esther" had been found. This unique Orphan: First Kill twist immediately changes the tone of the movie, because Leena goes from being the master manipulator of the Albright family to the one who is being manipulated.
Orphan: First Kill’s Twist Explained
To set up the Orphan: First Kill ending, Tricia and Gunnar admit that they knew Leena could not have been the real Esther because Gunnar accidentally killed the real Esther years ago and Tricia helped to cover it up by faking her daughter's disappearance. The pair are willing to go along with Leena's lie because the return of Esther has given Allen Albright (Rossif Sutherland), Tricia's husband and Gunnar's dad who doesn’t know the truth, a new lease on life. Tricia forcibly makes a deal with Leena that the impostor will continue to be Esther for Allen's sake.
The big twist that Esther's mom and uncle both knew Leena was a fake puts the previous events of Orphan: First Kill into perspective. Tricia and Gunnar's distant behavior up to that point finally makes sense, similar to how in the original movie, some of Esther's bizarre actions don't make sense until the detail of how old Esther is manages to be finally revealed. Although Orphan's twist is a memorable cinematic moment, the Orphan: First Kill big twist is smarter because it flips what was seemingly a predictable prequel into an intriguing horror where the villain is on the back foot.