Ever wonder why "Edge of Tomorrow" ends the way it does?
You're not alone.
This is the alternate ending that would've made "Edge of Tomorrow" even more confusing.
Spoilers ahead!
It's time to strap into your exosuit.
"Edge of Tomorrow" was the sci-fi sleeper hit of 2014 we had all been waiting for, and
gave Tom Cruise the perfect vehicle to explore time-travel shenanigans through the cold-blooded
lens of all-out war.
Doug Liman's sci-fi action film stars Cruise as William Cage, a cocky U.S. Army Major with
zero combat experience who's forced to join a landing operation against a race of alien
predators known as Mimics.
It's an absolute slaughter, but when Cage is exposed to the blood of an Alpha Mimic,
he gains their ability to manipulate time.
His newfound abilities allow him to train extensively and experiment with different
ways to defeat the invaders…
by dying over and over and over again.
Based on the 2004 novel "All You Need Is Kill" by Hiroshi Sakurazaka, "Edge of Tomorrow"
already had a built-in fan base before it debuted — but some fans, both new and old,
weren't so jazzed about the film's ending.
Essentially, Cage learns a valuable lesson at the end of the movie, but some folks felt
he should have had a more finite conclusion.
As it turns out, this was in the cards in some of the script's early versions.
Over the course of "Edge of Tomorrow," Cage loops through time again and again.
It's the pivotal device the entire movie hinges on, with Cage eventually joining forces with
The Angel of Verdun, also known as Rita Vrataski.
He's determined to shift the odds in humanity's favor, and that means stepping up to the occasion…
and maybe even falling in love.
"You're a good man, Cage.
I wish I had the chance to know you better."
Of course, no amount of training or romance could ever properly prepare him for what's
about to go down.
Cage and Vrataski locate a powerful Mimic known as the Omega, who studies the battlefield
and loops time in order to always ensure that the Mimics win.
Unfortunately, Cage is gravely injured when a mission to recover an important device goes
sideways.
He's given a blood transfusion, stripping him of his ability to loop time.
The entire film revolves around the United Defense Force and its attempt to take the
world back from the alien invaders — and while it plays out many times in the movie,
the final run is the only one that matters.
Upon crashing in Paris, Cage's entire squad sacrifices themselves to ensure that Cage
and Vrataski can get to the Omega.
When an Alpha Mimic kills Vrataski and wounds Cage, all looks lost… but before he dies,
Cage manages to drop a grenade belt, blowing up the Omega and destroying all of the Mimics
for good.
As a dying Cage floats down into the Omega's blood, he seemingly gains the ability to loop
through time once more.
Awakening several days before the invasion, right back at the beginning of the film, Cage
has avoided certain death.
What's more, he's now in an alternate timeline where an energy blast has wiped out all known
Mimics just as the UDF touched down in France.
His squad mates are all alive again, including Vrataski, and while they may not know who
he is or what he's done, he's still made the world a much safer place — and became a
changed man in the process.
One of the things some viewers hated about "Edge of Tomorrow" was that William Cage survives
at the end.
Many viewers felt that William Cage's story would have been all the more poignant if he
sacrificed himself to save his squad and the woman he has fallen in love with.
As it turns out, there was one version of the script where Cage didn't get his happy
ending after all... but it was a bit too dark, and a bit too confusing.
The alternate ending is centered around the Alpha Mimic — a creature that, if killed,
will trigger a resetting of the day.
In the version that made it to theaters, Cage makes sure J-Squad knows what'll happen if
they take an Alpha down.
"Do not kill an Alpha!
If we kill an Alpha, the Omega will reset this whole day.
We'll never even remember we had this conversation."
It's a rather ominous idea... and it's also how the movie was originally supposed to end.
Screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie said to MovieWeb about the scrapped finale:
"[T]here's the classic horror movie scene where one of them gets separated from the
group, and he gets attacked by an Alpha and kills it.
As he kills it, you see the Omega reset the day [...] We cut to the plane [...] This time
when he gets to the line, 'You can bet they'll have a plan to kill us all,' the ship gets
hit."
A neat idea for sure, but there was just one problem: McQuarrie continued:
"As the audience, you realize the enemy knows they're coming.
The problem was you were so exhausted by the time you got to that point."
The ending where everyone dies was ultimately scrapped in favor of a more upbeat conclusion.
Although the alternate ending is certainly far smarter, you have to admit — getting
to the point where it starts to click into place sounds like one hell of a slog.
Instead, they ended up going with a much happier ending, thanks to Tom Cruise himself.
McQuarrie explained that Cruise felt the movie needed to be a bit lighter, and the ending
with no survivors was eventually scrapped.
The writer continued,
"We really struggled to deliver what the movie needed to be emotionally.
I know the ending was somewhat controversial, with some people who didn't like it.
I think the only way to make those people happy would be to end the movie in a way that
wasn't happy.
We weren't interested in doing that.
It needed to end in a way that wasn't harsh."
The theatrical ending almost feels like a compromise, with no one other than Cage having
any no idea what actually went down.
Meanwhile, Cage is a better man for it.
It's not quite the poignant act of self-sacrifice that would have made Cage a legend, but it's
still a neat way to tie everything up neatly in the end.
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