‘The Strays’ Ending Explained: Who Are the Strangers Following Neve?

Welcome to the Ending Explained for The Strays, a new psychological thriller arriving on Netflix this week. The film was written and directed by Nathaniel Martello-White, who makes his debut in the world of feature films with this film. The film offers many ideas and topics to explore, but sadly, it doesn’t go as deep as it could. The result is a movie that feels a bit lost about what it is trying to tell and also a film that stays on the surface of every single topic it tries to tackle.

The movie is solid from a technical point of view. The visuals are nothing to write home about, but they at least have a sense of clarity. The performances are also very good. Ashley Madekwe really kills it in her role as Neve, a woman that is being followed by two strangers that could destroy the life it has as so carefully constructed. The rest of the actors do well, but the writing lets them down by taking the characters into very strange and almost cartoony situations. By the end, you are just happy that the movie ended.

The following paragraphs contain spoilers for The Strays. Read at your own risk.

Who Are The Strangers Following Neve?

The film is divided into parts, much in the vein of Barbarian last year. However, before the first chapter begins, a little prologue is presented. In it, we are introduced to a character named Cheryl. Cheryl has a panic attack; she is crying and breathing quite violently. She is making a call to her sister. She cries, says she feels like she is nothing, and hates how others look at her. Her sister is barely paying attention to what Cheryl is saying. Cheryl has ambition and wants more from life. Unlike her sister, she is not content with living the way she is. She hangs up and leaves the apartment.

The first chapter begins, and we are introduced to the title “Neve.” This is the name of our main character, and although she is dressed differently and has different hair, we can see that Neve is Cheryl. Years have passed since she left that apartment, and she has made an entirely new life for herself. She is happily married, has two young and healthy children, and is the headmistress of the town’s high school. She is a pillar of the community for all intents and purposes.

However, Neve is not entirely happy. She is always in defensive mode and seems to have forgotten she is a black woman. She is doing everything she can to be seen as a white woman. She pays close attention to the way she dresses, the way she speaks, and the way her hair looks. She always uses wigs with straight hair. In this uncomfortable position, she starts seeing two mysterious individuals watching her from the distance. The individuals are a young man and a young woman.

Neve seems to lose control over her emotions and composure whenever she sees them. She starts looking like a bit of a crazy person in front of her husband, kids, and even friends. They apologize for her and excuse her by saying she is under too much stress. One day, while doing an event for her school, she sees the two people in the event and has a meltdown. Neve screams and cries in front of everyone until the two strangers reveal themselves to be her children.

Why Are Carl And Dione Stalking Their Mother?

From there, we are introduced to the second chapter of the movie, titled, Carl and Dione. These are the names of the two people who have been stalking Neve all this time. They reveal themselves to be Neve’s children. She abandoned them the moment she left the apartment during the prologue. We see many of the same events but from Carl and Dione’s points of view. They have come from London on a mission, which seems to be trying to reconnect with their mother.

Carl takes a job at the school, and Dione becomes Neve’s husband’s new secretary. They move very slowly, but they start getting closer and closer to Neve. But first, they decide to get close to her new children, Sebastian and Mary. Carl becomes friendly with Sebastian, teaches him how to smoke, and even takes him on a revenge trip against some of Sebas’ bullies. It seems they could really be friends or brothers. Dione does the same with Mary, and they even have a party. However, Dione gets mad and talks aggressively to Mary, who doesn’t understand what is happening.

Carl decides that they should leave for London. Neve, their mother, has a new life here and definitely doesn’t want them back with her. However, Dione has been invited to the school event and wants to go. Carl accepts, and then we go back to Neve’s meltdown. She reveals to her family that it is true that Carl and Dione are her children. She explains that she was with a very bad man in the past and needed to escape. She didn’t even want to be a mother at that age; she was only 16 when she got pregnant with Dione, who is the younger of the two.

Neve’s family accepts her story, but the atmosphere remains tense. Neve meets with Carl and Dione, who is clearly mentally unstable. Neve tries to give them money, so they return to London and leave her alone. They take this as an insult and return to Neve’s house later that night and break into it. Carl acts violently, and Dione acts like a crazy person. Carl ends up killing Neve’s husband. Neve has had enough, so, using the excuse of giving the delivery man his tip, she grabs her purse and leaves the house. She leaves her four kids alone, wondering where their mom is.