The Strays Ending Explained: Where Did Neve End Up?

The Strays was released last month on 22nd February 2023. We were riveted the entire time by the psychological horror thriller, which was based on a real-life incident.

Ashley Madekwe’s character Cheryl, who leads a reasonably terrible existence in London at the film’s start, decides to pack up and leave her life behind.

Then, after years, Cheryl reappears, now going by the name Neve, and is leading a very different life. She is married, has two kids, serves as the assistant head of the neighborhood private school, and resides in the suburbs.

Also Read: Tonight You’re Sleeping With Me Ending Explained: Who Did Nina Ultimately Choose?

Explanation Of The Strays Ending.

Let’s take a look at the ending explanation of The Strays. The Strays comes to an exact conclusion about how it started: when Ian is killed during the house invasion, Neve abandons all four of her kids and escapes with a delivery guy, leaving them alone and motherless.

Neve notices Carl and Dione, initially mistaken for Marvin and Abigail, lurking in the rear as the neighborhood congregates at her house for her charity event. It becomes apparent that she is their mother as she loses her composure, producing a big commotion.

The entire first act is then reframed: Carl hands Sebastian the cigarette and forces him to take vengeance on the school bully by throwing a basketball in his face, which is why he arrived home so late.

The “Black female” who started working for Ian was Dione. Neve describes how the birth of Dione devastated her and made her decide against having further kids.

She fled and kept her old life a secret since her first husband, Michael, was similarly abusive (but, as we witnessed when she hit Sebastian with her shoe, so was she).

When Neve tries to make good on her promise to give Carl and Dione £10,000 apiece, the family reluctantly agrees to move on. They pretend to be friendly and accept the money before holding a “family reunion” for Dione’s birthday a few weeks later.

In the middle of the night, they break into the house, grab their phones, flood the kitchen, and start torturing everyone. They sit down for a tense game of scrabble after Carl asks Mary to order a Chinese late at night.

Then Carl has Ian bench press until he can no longer do it, which is to say until the bar shatters through his brain and kills him.

Neve instructs the delivery driver to hold off until she can leave him a gratuity when the meal is delivered. She slips her handbag out of the room, silently closing the door behind her.

Just Neve’s children are left when Carl exits the home gym, and the last sound they hear is the engine’s roar.

Despite her best efforts to pass for someone else having a home, family, or a sense of belonging anywhere, Neve now has four Strays and is a stray herself.