Jupiter’s Legacy ending explained

But how does Jupiter’s Legacy end, and what could this mean for future episodes? We break down the main beats below, but beware – if you haven’t watched the whole thing yet, there are definite spoilers.

Jupiter’s Legacy volume one ending

After a series jumping back and forth between the 1920s (when the Utopian and the Union of Justice received their powers) and the present day, the final episode focuses more on the latter, which is probably a good thing because this show gets complicated.

Following the previous episode’s entry into the mind of the Blackstar clone, Brainwave (Ben Daniels, playing Walter Sampson) remains trapped telepathically, where he finally faces off with the Union of Justice’s greatest foe: Matt Lanter’s Skyfox, AKA former teammate George Hutchence.

“It was really practical, actually. We shot that on the very final two days of the shoot,” Daniels told RadioTimes.com. “We didn't get to rehearse that scene at all because the shoot was crazy huge as you can imagine. So it wasn't until we were actually on set that we got to do those fights.

“You have these harnesses on that are extremely uncomfortable. The super suits themselves look amazing but your skin can't breathe, you can't go for a pee, you can't eat anything. You don't want to drink anything because you can't go for a pee by yourself, someone has to take you and hold the suit. I mean, the practicalities of it are awful. So we were sort of doing it on the hoof, really.”

“The fight itself, like Ben has mentioned, was very practical, but I will say the environment that we were fighting in, is this weird mythical construct of the mind,” Lanter told us.

“So we're physically fighting on just a shiny white platform with a green screen all around us. And then, of course, what you see in the show is we're in this weird world. So all of that stuff had to be communicated to us and I think that's where Ben and I just put the trust into the VFX. And say, ‘Okay, if you say that’s where we're at, that’s where we're at.’”

Soon, Lady Liberty (AKA Leslie Bibb’s Grace Sampson) heads into the mindscape herself and, while she’s not able to stop Skyfox either, the pair manage to escape after George shows Walter what appears to be a dark vision of the future.

Specifically, the vision was Skyfox standing over the murdered body’s of Grace’s husband Sheldon (AKA The Utopian, played by Josh Duhamel) and her son Brandon (AKA Paragon, played by Andrew Horton).

“George cloned Blackstar knowing he’d give the Union most trouble,” Walter tells Grace. “Once I was in Blackstar’s brain, it was an ambush. He thought I’d be alone. He’s coming for all of us.”

Following this, the Union of Justice members present vowed to bring Skyfox to justice. However, all was not as it seemed.

Brainwave’s plan revealed

When Brainwave/Walter went to check up on his daughter Raikou (Anna Akana, pictured), the truth was revealed. In fact, it was Walter who’d cloned Blackstar, sicced him on the Union of Justice and framed Skyfox, with the entire telepathic battle staged for Grace’s benefit.

Meanwhile, Walter also let the real Blackstar out of prison, causing the deaths of more heroes and driving a wedge between The Utopian and his son after Sheldon hesitated to take Blackstar’s life to save Brandon’s.

“You wanna split apart the Utopian from his son,” Raikou said after her father read her mind.

“That creates instability within the Union. Instability that will force new leadership.”

“This country is spiralling out of control,” Walter replies, noting that Sheldon’s code of ethics – superheroes couldn’t govern, or take lives – had made things worse. “There’s no-one else to blame.”

Simultaneously, the series shows a meeting between Sheldon and Walter, where Sheldon admits his fear that he’s “losing” Brandon and breaks down, unaware that Walter is secretly behind their rift so he can take over the Union.

“You can trust me – I promise,” Walter tells him.

Meanwhile, back at Raikou’s apartment the junior telepath tries to blackmail Walter in return for her silence. Unfortunately, he has a more permanent solution in mind.

“You’re a disappointment, just like everyone else,” he said. “I could have taught you so much.”

Warping out of the (apparently telepathic) reality the two were actually talking in, it’s revealed that Walter has cut his daughter’s throat. With a final kiss on the cheek he leaves her, and the final shot of the series shows him standing with his betrayed brother, ready to put the next stage of his plan in motion.

What Jupiter’s Legacy volume one’s ending means for volume two

The other key development in the finale is that Hutch (Ian Quinlan) secures the next piece of tech he’s been scouting for, which he says is to finally track down his missing father Skyfox/George. Given this detail and Brainwave’s framing of him, it seems likely that the next collection of Jupiter’s Legacy episodes will see George (pictured) face his former teammates, though it’s unclear what other tricks Walter will have in store to keep the truth hidden.

More generally, it seems certain that Walter will continue to try and drive a wedge between Sheldon and Brandon, winning the latter over to his side and worldview (specifically that they should take a more active role in shaping their country) and generally weakening his brother Sheldon.

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Obviously more clues can be gleaned from the Jupiter’s Legacy comic, but to avoid potential spoilers we won’t go into that in too much detail. Suffice it to say, Walter’s betrayal has turned up quite a bit earlier in the TV series, which makes sense – you need a strong note to end this first season on – but also raises questions about what other changes we can expect going forward.

Altogether, it’s an intriguing way to end a slightly slow first series from Jupiter’s Legacy. Hopefully fans won’t have to wait too long to see what comes next.

Jupiter’s Legacy season one is now streaming on Netflix. Want something else to watch? Check out our full TV Guide or visit our Sci-Fi hub for all the latest news.