Paris Has Fallen season 1 ending explained: Is Pearce able to kill the President?

The new installment in the Has Fallen franchise, Paris Has Fallen, premiered in France on September 23, 2024. Written by Howard Overman and directed by Oded Ruskin and Hans Herbots, the series was released in the United Kingdom on Amazon Prime Video on November 1, 2024.

Following its France and UK premieres, all eight episodes of this French and English language action thriller series were released in the United States on December 6, 2024, on Hulu. Paris Has Fallen follows a sequence of terror attacks orchestrated by a disillusioned former French Foreign Legion soldier named Jacob Pearce.

However, by the end of Paris Has Fallen, Pearce’s formidable fight comes to an end when Vincent and Zara take him down before he can shoot the President of France. Pearce’s elaborate offensive scheme against France, however, has deep-rooted implications.

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Paris Has Fallen season 1 ending: The President is safe

A still from the series (Image via Hulu)

The antagonist of the series, Jacob Pearce, harbors a spirited hatred against France since the country not only betrayed him once but took away his nearest and dearest ones when he tried to start a new, peaceful life.

As the plot progresses, it becomes clear that Pearce has a personal antagonism against Juliette Levesque, the reigning President of France, since it was she who sanctioned the actions that brought immense grief in his life.

Thus, as Paris Has Fallen season 1 approaches its end, Pearce abducts Juliette. However, Vincent and Zara follow close by and confront him. Before they can do anything, Pearce has Juliette confess her crimes publicly on live television.

However, the two agents soon catch up with Pearce following which a scuffle ensues. Pearce is taken down by the agents, however, he fires one shot at Juliette, which hits Vincent. Thus, the President is safe by the end of the finale.

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Why did Pearce embark on this revenge-mission?

Sean Harris as Jacob Pearce (Image via Hulu)

The motive behind Pearce’s acts of terror becomes clear as Paris Has Fallen progresses. While serving his country in Afghanistan, Pearce was handed over to the Taliban and his government disowned him.

Pearce was brutally tortured. However, after his rescue, he tried to start a new life in Pakistan. The French government tried to kill him in a bid to permanently secure his silence regarding the fact that it had disowned its agents when push came to shove.

The attack instead killed Pearce’s family. Juliette is the one who greenlit this attack in the first place. Thus, Pearce wanted to take revenge against France for what its government had secretly done to him.

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What happens to the principal characters in the end?

Zara (Image via Hulu)

Pearce’s act of extracting the confession out of Juliette helps little since the cunning politician later says in an interview that whatever she said previously was uttered under pressure when she was held at gunpoint by a terrorist.

Thus, Juliette’s popularity rises, instead of falling as Pearce would have wanted. However, she does lose something. She and Vincent were engaged in a clandestine romantic relationship. The sly nature of the politician convinces Vincent to break up with her.

Elsewhere, things are not looking great for Zara as well. Her almost fanatic devotion to her work as an MI6 agent undermines her romantic relationship with Théa. The latter decides it is best if Zara solely focuses on her professional life since it is all she seems to care about.

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Who was the mole?

Stills from the series (Image via Hulu)

Throughout Paris Has Fallen, it is indicated that Pearce has a mole working inside the intelligence organizations. As a result, he is always one step ahead of the agents. Initially, Lucas seems to be the mole.

However, as the plot progresses, it becomes clear that Simone has been the mole. A backstory is provided to explain this: Simone’s partner was part of the group that had been disowned by the French government in Afghanistan. Thus, she had personal reasons to join Pearce’s hands.

Having said that, she does acknowledge the fact that Pearce’s methods are too extreme and he does not care about mindlessly killing innocent civilians to get to his goals. Thus, she decides to help the agents eventually.

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All episodes of Paris Has Fallen are available to stream on Hulu.