Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds introduced the audience to one of the most memorable and scariest villains in movie history: Hans Landa, but what happened to him after the movie's end? Quentin Tarantino has explored different genres in his career as a filmmaker, and two of his most popular movies explored alternate history: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood with the Manson murders of the 1960s, and Inglourious Basterds with World War II.
Inglourious Basterds follows two stories with a common goal: kill as many nazis as possible, including Hitler. One is the story of a group known as the “Basterds”, led by Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt), and the other is that of Shosanna Dreyfus/Emmanuelle Mimieux’s (Mélanie Laurent), a Jewish cinema owner whose family was killed by SS officer Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz) and is now ready for revenge. Although Hitler was the common target of the Basterds and Shosanna, Hans Landa is the main villain of Inglourious Basterds, and when it seemed like he had won, Aldo Raine had a final surprise up his sleeve and left him with a souvenir he would never be able to get rid of.
At the end of Inglourious Basterds, Landa captured Aldo and Utivich (B.J. Novak) and made Aldo call his superior officer to make a deal that would allow their mission to continue in exchange for safe passage for Landa through the Allied lines, full pardon, and other perks. Aldo agreed, but once they reached Allied territory, he carved a swastika into Landa’s forehead, calling it his “masterpiece”. It’s understood that Aldo let Landa go after that and everyone went on their own ways, but Tarantino has already answered the big question of what happened to Landa after Inglourious Basterds, and it’s a very surprising fate that involves worldwide recognition, bangs, and mysteries.
As there are no cards at the end of Inglourious Basterds telling the audience what happened to the surviving characters after the events of the movie, it’s up to the imagination of viewers what happened next – but Tarantino actually has an idea of what Hans Landa’s life was like after his final encounter with Aldo Raine. Speaking to Josh Horowitz in the Happy Sad Confused podcast in 2020, Tarantino shared what he imagines happened to Hans Landa after Aldo Rained carved his “masterpiece” on his forehead: Landa was recognized as a hero in history books for his involvement in ending World War II because “he and Aldo Raine brought down Hitler”. Decades later, Landa settled on Nantucket Island, where he started a new career as an amateur master detective – and he had to wear low bangs to cover the infamous scar on his forehead.
Tarantino shared he has an idea for a series of “Hans Landa mysteries”, covering that detective side of him post-World War II in Nantucket Island, but said he wasn’t sure if he would ever write it. However, it might not be the best idea to expand on Hans Landa’s life post-Inglourious Basterds, especially if he ended up becoming a detective on an island, as that would have made him a somewhat sympathetic character, taking off what made him such a frightening villain to begin with – but what happened to Landa between the end of Inglourious Basterds and the Nantucket mysteries is up to viewers’ imagination.