Argylle ending explained: Is it set in the Kingsman universe?

Just who is the real Agent Argylle? Does the film have anything to do with Vaughn's Kingsman franchise? Who is the mysterious Elly Conway who wrote the book Argylle is inspired by? What does Taylor Swift have to do with it all?

Well, the film doesn't quite answer all of these mysteries but it does clear up a fair few of them, as well as teeing up some new questions of its own.

If you've seen the film and need some clarification – read on to have the Argylle ending explained. But if you're yet to watch it, be warned: there are obviously major spoilers ahead.

Who is the real Agent Argylle?

Before we get to the ending, we should first address the question that was on every film fan's lips after watching the trailer: just who is the real Agent Argylle?

In the trailer, we are introduced to spy novelist Elly Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard), who is struggling to come up with the ending of the latest novel in her popular Argylle series when she gets swept up in a very real espionage plot.

It ends with Samuel L Jackson's character telling her that there is actually a real Agent Argylle to whom he will now introduce her – but, naturally, the trailer opts not to give the big reveal away.

Well, the actual answer is that the real Agent Argylle is none other than Elly Conway herself: before the film started she had been a highly successful spy but had been involved in a nasty accident and subsequently lost all of her memory.

And her name as a spy? Agent Rachel Kyle, or agent R Kyle. R Kyle = Argylle. Get it?

What's more, it turns out that she has been manipulated by an evil organisation known as The Division – including agents posing as her parents (Bryan Cranston and Catherine O'Hara) – to write her spy novels, and she is unknowingly drawing on her real memories to do so.

The plan was for her to eventually give away the location of a file that incriminated the organisation and which she had been about to obtain shortly before the accident which had resulted in her memory loss.

Argylle ending explained: How did Keira survive?

At the end of the film – following an explosive, extremely colourful action set-piece on a ship that serves as The Division's HQ – Elly/Rachel and Aidan (Sam Rockwell) have got their hands on the file and are in the process of sending it to their boss, former CIA director Alfred Solomon (Samuel L Jackson).

But just as they are in the process of sending it, Ruth (O'Hara) reappears and starts to play music from a music box that had previously been used to brainwash Elly/Rachel while she was recovering from her accident.

This allows her to essentially hypnotise and manipulate her, and once she has done, so she orders her to kill Aidan and stop the file from being sent.

Elly/Rachel obliges and a struggle ensues, but just as it looks like The Division is going to succeed and she is about to crush Sam's skull under her boot, Keira (Ariana DeBose) – the good guys's erstwhile colleague who had long been thought dead – appears from nowhere and shoots Ruth, breaking the hypnosis and allowing them to send the file after all.

It turns out that Keira had survived a previous mission because the bullet that had hit her had passed through a very specific part of her heart which meant her wound was not fatal.

Elly/Rachel explains that this is the same way that she'd brought back a character in her novels who had been based on Keira, and she'd done so based on a tip from a fan. And it turns out that that fan was none other than Keira herself!

Argylle post-credits scene: Is it set in the Kingsman universe?

After the film ends, there is one more twist, thanks to an intriguing post-credits scene.

The scene takes place in a pub named The King's Man, and shows us a young man (Louis Partridge) who introduces himself as 'Aubrey Argylle', following which we are told that a film based on the first Argylle novel is coming soon.

Due to the pub's name, we can probably assume that this film – if it is really happening – will also have ties to Vaughn's Kingsman films, and therefore combine the two universes.

This had first been suggested by Vaughn back in August last year, when he explained during an appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast that he had plans for Kingsman and Argylle to crossover.

"I just like the challenge of launching new intellectual property (IP)," he said. "I think it’s harder, but it’s more fun. Argylle, as I said, we’ve got the book coming out…and we have an Argylle 2 planned. So, there is a universe.

"What we’re trying to do… [What] Marvel [is to] superheroes, we want to be to spies. We’ve got the Kingsman on the right. Argylle is on the left. We’ve got an idea for something in the middle, as well. We’ve got these competing franchises in a galaxy that one day might meet."

Presumably, the film teased in the credits scene – about the Aubrey Argylle who appears in Conway's books – is the "something in the middle" Vaughn refers to here. We'll keep you updated when more information emerges on that front...

Argylle is released in UK cinemas on Friday 2nd February 2024. Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on.

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