The global apocalypse never looked as stunning as it does in The Midnight Sky. For those
who've finished the film and may want a deeper dive into what happened, let's break down
everything that happened at the end.
Beware: spoilers follow!
The final moments of The Midnight Sky really bring home the connection between Augustine
and Sully with the reveal of just a single word: Iris. Early in the movie, we learn that
Iris is the name of the little girl who appears to be accidentally left behind with Augie
in the research lab and who becomes his companion as he makes way for the Lake Haven satellite
station to make contact with Aether. Though Augustine is initially reluctant to take care
of her, especially given his own state of constant inebriation and declining health,
he eventually grows very fond of the child and does everything in his power to protect
her.
As the closing moments of the movie show, little Iris is just a figment of Augie's imagination,
but she is based on a real kid. Flashbacks to Augie's younger days reveal that his jilted
lover gave birth to a daughter, and he got to see the child from a distance once. His
memory of the girl has informed his version of Iris, while that girl grew up to be known
as Sully.
"And I'm Iris."
"I know."
Augie didn't make verbal contact with Iris as a child — which is probably why his apparition
does not speak — but he finally gets the chance to communicate with his daughter and
steer her from the danger in the end.
By the end of The Midnight Sky, it's clear that Augustine is not long for his world.
After he successfully connects with the crew of the Aether at the satellite outpost, there
is little left for him to look forward to. He will likely not be able to return to the
larger research facility since his snowmobile has been lost, and the same ice crumbling
accident that cost him his vehicle also left his pack of chemotherapy treatment supplies
at the bottom of the freezing lake.
Augie mentions several times that the world is now uninhabitable everywhere.
"I'm afraid we didn't do a very good job of looking after the place while you were away."
And a satellite image of a smoke-clouded Earth confirms the same for those onboard the Aether.
Augie knows it's a matter of time before his desolate region of the world is also consumed
by the radiation. It's clear that he knows there is no hope, but audiences don't see
him actually perish as a result of his condition. The final shot of Augie does reveal a sense
of resolution for him, however, as he steps into the wintry outdoors to observe the night
sky as the Aether passes by for its final voyage. He holds the fictional Iris' hand
one last time with a smile, seemingly acknowledging he has completed his mission to keep her safe.
Both Sully and Adewole ask Augustine about potential options for reentry, but he insists
that the only habitable places left are underground, and even those are temporary. However, there
are two astronauts who are convinced that they must return to Earth: Mitchell and Sanchez.
"We're going home."
For Mitchell, it is both a matter of completing the mission as it was originally prescribed
and also taking a chance, no matter how slim it might be, at being reunited with his wife
and two sons. Once the communications mechanisms are restored, he belatedly receives a message
from his wife letting him know that his sons are sick and they are all being evacuated.
Whether they are in a safe place underground is unclear, but Mitchell always calculated
mortal dangers to himself into his line of work, so he remains willing to risk it.
Sanchez joins him because it takes two crewmembers to operate the reentry pod, and he wants to
escort the body of their fallen crewmate Maya back to Earth. He may not have any family
back on Earth, but Maya reminded him of the daughter he lost many years before, so he
feels this is a worthwhile effort. Both men appear to know, however, that they are unlikely
to survive upon returning to the inhospitable planet.
Though Mitchell and Sanchez return to whatever is left on Earth, Sully and Adewole decide
to implement Augie's plan to slingshot Aether around the planet and return to K-23, a moon
on Jupiter that Augustine had previously pointed to as potentially habitable. The Aether's
initial exploration of the locale proved that his theory was correct, and Sully knows from
her personal experience on the ground that K-23 boasts breathable air and other resources.
During her final conversation with Augustine, Sully takes the opportunity to communicate
with him about what this new "world" is like.
"It's amazing. The colony site, it feels like Colorado."
Beyond the viability of life on K-23, Sully and Adewole have yet another reason to return
there instead of Earth. Sully is pregnant with Adewole's child — a daughter whose
potential name became a point of conversation and jest between the crewmates before their
fates were made clear to them by the restored comms devices. What they will ultimately name
the child is undecided by the time they begin charting their return to K-23, but the little
one has obviously given them another reason to retreat to a survivable alternative to
Earth.
"Think I lost him."
"I guess it's just us now."
There are several themes to be found throughout The Midnight Sky, but the prevailing message
of the story is the importance of human, and particularly familial, connections. Augustine's
entire journey, including his fabrication of young Iris, is his way of coping with what
he has lost by not spending more time with his real child while he had the chance. Augie
has been purposefully isolated from others and single-mindedly focused on his work, even
declining the chance to evacuate with the others from his research facility.
His cruelty to and dismissiveness of Sully's mother is what made it so that Sully doesn't
know that Augustine is her father, but she still admired his legacy so much that it inspired
her to join the space program. With death looming for him and the world at large, Augustine
finally reckons with the fact that deep down he did want to be a father to Iris, and both
his imagination and actions come together to make her safe one last time. He seems to
find ultimate peace when he hears from Sully that she has followed his career and that
she is grateful to him for steering herself and Adewole back to K-23.
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