Nosferatu 2024 ending explained

"The film's pretty dissimilar from the play that I did," he told RadioTimes.com during an exclusive interview about the film.

"The play that I did was very much a silent film on stage, and more expressionist than the [FW] Murnau film. It was kind of styled after [The Cabinet of Dr] Caligari as far as, like, expressionist, weird sets made of cardboard. It was all very humble."

That said, there's one way in which the new film does have its roots in that school version: the way he chose to stage the ending.

"The one thing that kind of remained from the production was that the ending is more of a duet," he explained. "Which was something that I thought I had gotten wrong as a kid, but it was the only way that I could find truth in the blocking of it and with the actors.

"I still may not have been the right choice, but it was the only way I could figure out how to do it!"

So, how does this version of Nosferatu end? And how similar is it to the original? Read on for everything you need to know.

Warning: Full spoilers ahead.

Nosferatu 2024 ending explained: How is Orlok defeated?

For the most part, the film stays faithful to the 1922 version, following events after estate agent Thomas Hutter (Nicholas Hoult) is sent by his employer Herr Knock (Simon McBurney) to the Transylvanian castle of Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgård) – who is, of course, a vampire.

Orlok – who we learn has a history with and connection to Hutter's wife Ellen (Lily-Rose Depp) – soon arrives in Germany, bringing the plague with him and causing all sorts of chaos, while Professor Von Franz (Willem Dafoe) is brought in as an occult expert to help dispel the threat posed to Ellen and the city at large.

Anyway, Von Franz has figured out from his detailed research into the occult that there is only one way in which Orlok can be truly defeated – via the willing sacrifice of a "fair maiden".

He thus tells Ellen what must be done and takes Thomas and Ellen's doctor Sievers (Ralph Ineson) on a decoy expedition to destroy Orlok's resting place so they can't interfere with the plan.

Ellen goes ahead with Von Franz's instructions, tempting Orlok and allowing him to feast on her blood all night long – which results in him becoming so distracted that he doesn't think to leave before sunrise, causing his destruction due to his intolerance to sunlight.

Meanwhile, once Thomas realises he has been deliberately diverted, he rushes back to his home – but arrives only in time to hold Ellen's hand as she dies due to her lack of blood, her sacrifice having allowed for Orlok to be destroyed once and for all.

In the somewhat haunting final shot, we see her corpse cradling that of Orlok, whose shell still lies atop her.

Although Ellen's sacrifice is consistent with previous versions of the film, her character is significantly fleshed out this time, and there is a difference regarding her past relationship with Orlok, which adds a new tragic element that makes the closing shot all the more haunting.

"Even as I was struggling to figure out the blocking of Orlok’s demise, that final shot was always going to be the final shot," Eggers explained in an interview with Variety. "It’s nice to have our own version of the 'Death and the Maiden' motif. I think it looks pretty nice."

Meanwhile, speaking to USA Today, Orlok star Bill Skarsgård said of the ending: "[Nosferatu is] a very heightened fairy tale/dark story, but also it's two people potentially falling in love. It isn't love, it's something else, but love is maybe the closest thing to it that you can kind of relate to. If it's not love, it's a craving and it's an appetite and it's lust and desire to devour.

"[Orlok is] seeing the sun for the first time in hundreds of years. So he's mesmerised by it and fear and all of these different things. And in a way, maybe that is what Orlok wanted all along."

As for Ellen star Lily-Rose Depp, she commented: "[We want] real sensuality and real desire, which makes the scenes all the more engaging and scary. This young woman is repulsed by him and petrified and horrified, but at the same time, there is a longing there.

"[The end scene is] heartbreaking and kind of bittersweet in a way because she's doing a good deed and she's breaking the curse, but she's also indulging in a dark desire that she has. We wanted all of those things to be palpable, to feel real."

Nosferatu is now showing in UK cinemas.

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