‘Bugonia’ Ending, Explained

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The new film Bugonia, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos and starring Emma Stone, is already generating buzz, especially regarding its surprising conclusion. The movie, which is based on the South Korean film Save the Green Planet!, features Stone as Michelle, the CEO of a pharmaceutical company. She’s kidnapped by Teddy (Jesse Plemons) and his relative Don (Aidan Delbis), who believe she’s an alien and the cause of the world’s problems.

The movie Bugonia deliberately blurs the line between reality and fiction, leaving viewers questioning what’s genuine. The story focuses on a conspiracy theorist, making it hard to know what to believe about the events unfolding. Is Emma Stone’s character an alien, or simply a woman caught in someone else’s web of false information? And are the actions of the character Teddy the result of madness, a genuine discovery, or a combination of both? Here’s an explanation of Bugonia‘s divisive ending.

Spoiler Alert: Spoilers ahead for Yorgos Lanthimos’ Bugonia

Is Michelle an Alien in ‘Bugonia’?


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Throughout much of Bugonia, the film intends for viewers to both laugh at and be disturbed by Teddy’s way of thinking. He embodies the classic paranoid conspiracy theorist: he gets his information from obscure sources, dismisses mainstream news (“I don’t get my news from the news”), and makes baseless accusations. He even goes so far as to kidnap a woman based solely on his beliefs. Michelle, the woman he kidnaps, can’t prove she’s human to Teddy’s satisfaction, putting her in an impossible situation. Teddy only shifts his perspective when, after torturing her, he decides she’s not just a common worker drone, but part of the alien species’ royal family due to her ability to withstand a high level of electrical shock.

Teddy’s extreme distrust and accusations appear to be a way for him to deal with difficult feelings. He specifically blames Michelle, believing her company caused his mother’s illness. Both Teddy and his mother, Sandy, have a connection to Michelle’s pharmaceutical company: Teddy works in her warehouse, and Sandy was a patient in a clinical trial run by the company that went wrong, leaving her in a coma. Teddy believes Michelle, who he thinks is an alien, is conducting dangerous experiments on people. Adding to his issues, it’s suggested Teddy experienced abuse as a child at the hands of his babysitter – now a police officer – which has left him feeling helpless and fueled his anger.

Teddy has always felt helpless and deeply resents billionaires, believing they prioritize profit over people. This feeling is particularly relevant today. He focuses all his anger on a single woman – a CEO he blames for the world’s problems. The story touches on issues like male loneliness and the dangerous mindset of incels, going so far as to depict Teddy and his cousin taking extreme measures to distance themselves from the CEO’s influence.

Michelle insists she’s not an alien, but as Teddy becomes increasingly violent and erratic while holding her captive, she starts pretending to agree with him to stay alive. She eventually confesses to being an alien, but Teddy dismisses it, demanding a more believable confession in the language of Andromeda. Throughout the film, Michelle fully commits to this act to save herself, telling Teddy whatever he wants to believe. She even claims the antifreeze in her car is a cure for his mother’s illness. While Teddy is away, she escapes her restraints and finds a hidden room revealing a disturbing truth: Teddy has kidnapped, tortured, and killed numerous people he suspected of being aliens.

Teddy visits his mother in the hospital and, believing he’s helping her, gives her what he thinks is a cure – but it’s actually antifreeze. Tragically, he accidentally kills her and then runs from the hospital, intending to find Michelle. Michelle, however, confronts him, demanding to know how many of Teddy’s victims were from the Andromeda galaxy, and he admits to two. Michelle then launches into a complex explanation of the Andromedan species and their technology, a story that seems inspired by various science fiction works like 2001: A Space Odyssey and Star Trek. This leaves viewers wondering if Michelle is genuinely revealing true Andromedan information or if she’s improvising to deceive Teddy, who is easily led to believe things he wants to be true. Is Michelle an alien herself, or is she simply a convincing liar manipulating Teddy?

The Truth Is Revealed in ‘Bugonia’


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The scene shifts to Michelle’s office, where she tells Teddy they’ll be “transported” to the ship. It appears to be an elaborate prank by Michelle, made even stranger by the fact that she’s using a calculator as a communicator—claiming she disguised it to look normal. She enters a long, 50-digit code, which seems like a delay tactic. The transporter is hidden in her office closet. When Teddy steps inside and Michelle starts a countdown, the explosive device he brought detonates, instantly killing him and knocking Michelle unconscious with his severed head.

Okay, so things take a wild turn. After Michelle is put in an ambulance, she learns Teddy’s dead, and just… bolts. She runs right back to the office, grabs her calculator – seriously! – and hides in a closet before finally heading to her ship. And that’s when it hits you: Michelle isn’t who we thought she was. She’s an alien! It turns out Teddy’s crazy conspiracy theories were actually spot-on, even the one about communicating through hair. The kicker? He even accurately described the layout of her ship, which apparently comes from Andromeda. It’s a genuinely shocking reveal that reframes everything.

In her throne room, the Andromedans questioned Michelle about whether Earth deserved to be saved. After a moment of thought, Michelle gave the order to destroy humanity. As her court departed, she approached a table and burst a bubble hovering over a model of the flat Earth, instantly killing everyone on the planet.

The surprising reveal that Michelle is an alien in Bugonia significantly changes how you view the entire film, and it brings up some of the same issues as Marvel’s Secret Invasion (though Bugonia is a much stronger story overall). It suggests that Teddy, despite his strange behavior, was right all along, but that doesn’t excuse his terrible deeds. The ending of Bugonia is sure to spark conversation among viewers for a long time. Bugonia is playing in theaters now.

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2025-10-25 23:04