Ishana Night Shyamalan’s supernatural horror film The Watchers begins as an unsettling mystery before pivoting upon a massive twist, but the character reveal at the movie’s core isn’t the most shocking twist that plays out in the narrative. The Watchers is based off a 2021 novel of the same name by A.M. Shine, and stays relatively in line with the major story beats of the source material. In both the movie and the novel, a young woman named Mina finds herself lost and subsequently trapped in a massive unmapped forest in Ireland.

Mina finds shelter in a bunker with several strangers, who inform her that the forest is filled with dangerous creatures, the Watchers, that come out at night to observe their behavior. The Watchers‘ big twist is that Madeline, one of the people in the bunker with Mina, has been a Watcher the entire time. However, while that certainly qualifies as a trademark “Shyamalan twist”, it isn’t the most surprising pivot in the plot of The Watchers.

Mina & Lucy’s Reconciliation Is The Watchers’ Most Baffling Twist

Mina’s sister accepts Mina’s incredible story very casually

While the “big twist” was obviously the reveal of Madeline as a halfling, a secondary twist takes the cake as the most unrealistic: Mina & Lucy’s reunion. The twin sisters’ estrangement stemmed from a car accident in their youth, during which their mother was killed. Mina was at least loosely responsible for the accident, and while her mother died and her sister Lucy’s face was brutally scarred, she walked away completely unscathed. Mina’s ongoing identity crisis stemming from that incident played a major role in how much she distanced herself from her sister as they both grew up.

The twin sisters reconnected after Mina’s remarkable adventure in the forest, and while that’s certainly great for the characters, it’s somewhat baffling how her sister takes everything seemingly completely in stride. She’s very casual about Mina’s story, which should be earth-shattering to the average person. Mina was missing for months in a forest that seemingly operates outside the normal plane of existence, and it turns out fairies are real. Her sister takes this all in with little reaction, and the two sisters reconcile after years of distance. Their final conversation is surprising, and frankly a bit jarring.

Why Madeline Was Watching Mina & Lucy At The End Of The Watchers

There are several theories that seem plausible

At the very end of The Watchers, it’s revealed that Madeline, now in the form of a red-headed little girl, continues to watch Mina. It’s not explicitly stated that the little girl is Madeline, but her malformed face is a giveaway that she’s a Watcher, and Madeline is the only one who (theoretically) knows who and where Mina is. The reason she’s still watching over Mina is not entirely clear, although it’s easy to assume that Mina’s understanding of Madeline’s plight as a halfling makes her worth watching; she is a person worth modeling herself after to assimilate into humanity.

A.M. Shine, the author of the novel
The Watchers
is based on, is releasing a sequel titled
Stay In the Light
, due out in late 2024.

Alternative theories have abounded thanks to the nebulous nature of The Watchers‘ ending. One of the simpler ones is that the red-headed girl isn’t actually Madeline, but rather another halfling that has found its way out of the woods. This would prove that the halflings are already infiltrating humanity, with Mina, Ciara, and Madeline’s escape perhaps acting as the impetus.

One of the more convoluted theories is that Mina is herself a halfling, given her proclivity for imitation and many other small hints provided throughout the movie. In that case, the red-headed girl is likely Madeline, and she is still watching Mina because she has figured out how to perfectly pass for a human being. No matter who or what the little red-headed girl actually is, the ending of The Watchers clearly leaves the door open for the narrative to continue.