The Strays ending explained: A full circle, once again

The Strays premiered on Netflix on February 22, 2023, bringing together an interesting story, an invested cast, and a lot of racial and class commentary, just like another known hit, Get Out.

Despite this new film failing to hit the mark like Jordan Peele's masterpiece, it had plenty to say on its own. It was the debut feature of actor and playwright Nathaniel Martello-White.

The British film centered around Neve (Ashley Madekwe), a light-skinned black woman who left her family and old life behind to start a new one with her husband Ian (Justin Salinger), and teenage children, Sebastian (Samuel Small) and Mary (Maria Almeida).

However, her life is interrupted when two mysterious figures from her past appear. The entire film was quite interestingly placed with several perspectives and a lot of stories.

The ending of The Strays, though failing to hit the mark, was an interesting foray into many interesting class commentaries and also brought the story back to a complete circle.

*Warning- Major Spoilers ahead

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The Strays ending explained: Did Neve abandon her family?

The Strays geared up for the ending after the perspective switch, which explored the story through the eyes of Marvin (Jorden Myrie) and Abigail (Bukky Bakray). It was revealed during the gala that Marvin and Abigail were Neve's children from her previous marriage, the ones she abandoned to start a new life.

After the confrontation at the gala, she explained that she left her old life behind because of her ex-husband, who was abusive and dangerous. When she told this to Carl and Dione, they were not satisfied with the answer.

She tried to buy them off by offering £20,000, hence committing the mistake that would eventually lead to the uncomfortable finale.

A couple of nights after the event, Marvin and Abigail broke into Neve's home and stole their phones, disarmed them, and started to flood the kitchen. This starts the circle of tormenting that ended in Ian's death after Marvin forced him to do benchpresses until he could not take it anymore.

Before that, Marvin and Abigail forced the entire family to sit with them and play a board game while they also ordered dinner. This entirely uncomfortable scene was perhaps Marvin and Abigail's response to not having the family that they deserved.

However, when the food arrived, Neve saw her chance and quietly snuck out on the pretext of getting the delivery. She took her chance and ran away with the delivery guy, abandoning her other two children behind as well. This completed a perfect circle as Neve ended up in the same way that she began her story.

Meanwhile, the strays grew from two to four.

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How was the final scene of The Strays shot?

The final scene of The Strays was also its most complicated one, with long rehearsals and complicated acting performances.

Madekwe explained:

"It was a very long scene – it's almost 20 minutes that scene,...And we rehearsed it like a play, we had two days of rehearsals, not just the actors but all of the crew, so all of the components were there for our rehearsal. And it was so helpful because it meant that when it came to those shooting days, it was almost a fine-oiled machine."

Most viewers will associate the film with this exceptionally important scene.

The Strays is now streaming on Netflix.