Spielberg Finally Settles the ‘E.T.’ Question Fans Have Asked for Over 40 Years

Few science fiction films have carved as deep a groove into popular culture as ‘E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial’. Released in 1982 and directed by Steven Spielberg, the story of a boy who befriends a stranded alien botanist became so iconic that the image of a bicycle silhouetted against the moon was adopted as the logo for Spielberg’s own production company, Amblin Entertainment. Decades later, it remains one of those rare films that people carry with them long after the credits roll.

At its emotional core is a psychic bond so profound between Elliott and his extraterrestrial friend that each could feel the other’s physical and emotional states across distance. When that connection was severed at the end of the film and the spacecraft lifted into the night sky, audiences were left with a question that has never truly gone away. Did these two ever find each other again?

Spielberg addressed that exact question recently while appearing on the Happy Sad Confused podcast with host Josh Horowitz, alongside stars Emily Blunt and Josh O’Connor, while promoting his new film ‘Disclosure Day’. His answer was both tender and final. “No, never saw him again,” he said. “But he did dream about him. So there was a psychic link between the two of them. If you notice that E.T. touched Elliott right here and said, ‘I’ll be right here.'”

For those holding onto the fan-favorite 2019 Comcast holiday commercial, which depicted a reunion between a grown Elliott and E.T. on screen, Spielberg has made clear that it should be thought of as existing in a different reality from the film’s true continuity. Touching as that commercial was, it does not reflect what Spielberg considers to have actually happened after the story ended.

Spielberg and screenwriter Melissa Mathison once co-wrote a sequel draft titled ‘E.T. II: Nocturnal Fears’, which centered on Elliott and his friends being kidnapped by hostile extraterrestrials, though that project was ultimately scrapped. The director went on to describe his battle to stop any sequel from reaching production as a “hard-fought victory,” telling Drew Barrymore at a Hollywood Reporter-covered TCM event that he initially lacked the contractual rights to prevent Universal Pictures from moving forward with one. The passing of Mathison in 2015 only deepened the resolve to leave the original untouched, with Henry Thomas, who played Elliott, also stating that imagining a continuation without her involvement was extremely difficult.

For the generations who grew up with ‘E.T.’ as a formative experience, Spielberg’s confirmation settles the matter with a quiet ache. The physical reunion was never coming, but the bond between Elliott and his interstellar companion never entirely disappeared either. It endured through dreams and the psychic imprint E.T. left on Elliott’s mind, a connection that transcended the boundaries of their worlds.

If that feels like enough of a reunion to you, or if you think Elliott deserved one last night under the stars with his oldest friend, this is the comment section for exactly that debate.