‘The Gray Man’ Ending, Explained: Netflix’s Action Thriller Leaves Room For a Sequel

If you’re ready for action, action, and even more action, then you’re going to love The Gray Man on Netflix.

Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, with a screenplay by Joe Russo, Christopher Markus, and Stephen McFeely, The Gray Man might just be Netflix’s biggest movie to date. It’s certainly one of the most expensive, with a production budget of around $200 million, and it’s also one of the most star-studded, featuring Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jessica Henwick, Regé-Jean Page, and Billy Bob Thornton.

In the grand tradition of old-school action movies, The Gray Man plot isn’t really the point. You’re not here for the story or the characters, you’re here for the cool stunts, the planes falling out of the sky, the explosions, and the many, many guns. This is the kind of movie you don’t have to watch too closely to enjoy. That said, if you let your attention wander too far, it’s possible you may miss something. If that’s you, don’t worry, because Decider is here to help. Read on for The Gray Man plot summary and The Gray Man ending, explained.

What is The Gray Man about? The Gray Man plot summary:

The movie opens in Florida State Prison in 2003, where a man we will later know as Six (Ryan Gosling) is recruited by a man named Donald Fitzroy (Billy Bob Thornton) to join an elite unit of the CIA. In exchange for getting out of prison, Six will dedicate his life to being a trained assassin for the CIA.

Cut to 18 years later, where Six is carrying out a job. He’s taking orders in an earpiece from Denny Carmichael (Regé-Jean Page), who makes it clear to his co-worker Suzanne (Jessica Henwick) that he does not trust Six. “The Gray Men” program is an outdated practice at the CIA, it seems, now that the man who recruited Six, Fitzroy, has retired.

In fact, the program is so outdated, that Six soon learns the target he has been sent to kill was a Gray Man, just like him. Before he dies, he gives Six a thumb drive, which contains proof that the CIA is now murdering the people they once recruited, because they consider former criminals to be too unstable.

Six calls up his old pal Fitzroy to help him go on the run. The CIA, led by Denny and Suzanne, hire another outside assassin named Lloyd (Chris Evans) to hunt Six down and retrieve that thumb drive. Lloyd is a sociopath who doesn’t play by the rules, so he kidnaps Fitzroy’s young niece in order to get Fitzroy to betray Six.

We learn via flashback that Six and Fitzroy’s niece, Claire (Julia Butters), have met before when Fitzroy hired Six to guard her while he was off on CIA business. The two of them have a special bond, so when Six learns that Claire has been kidnapped, he goes to rescue her, with the help of another CIA agent who has gone rogue, Dani (Ana de Armas). This all leads to a big final showdown in a castle, where Lloyd is holding both Claire and Fitzroy hostage.

What is The Gray Man ending explained?

Six manages to break out Fitzroy and Claire, but on the way out, Fitzroy is shot and killed. Lloyd catches up to Six and Claire, overpowers Six, and takes Claire hostage (again). Meanwhile, inside the castle, Dani faces off with one of the men hired by Lloyd to kill Six, Avik San (Dhanush). Avik has managed to get the MacGuffin thumb drive, but he realizes how “dishonorable” Lloyd is, so he decides to give the drive back to Dani.

Outside, Lloyd has dragged Claire to the center of a hedge maze. Lloyd and Six face off as the sun rises. But it’s not Six who ultimately kills Lloyd—it’s Suzanne, aka the CIA woman played by Jessica Henwick. Suzanne was always against Lloyd’s violent methods, and it seems she was finally pushed over the edge.

After Suzanne shoots Lloyd, she tells Six that she is going to pull strings at the CIA to make Lloyd take the fall for every death and destruction that’s taken place. She tells Six he is going back to prison, but that she will “let him out to play sometimes,” because he’s such a good hit man. She tells Six that if he agrees to these terms, she will make sure Claire will live a long life.

Two weeks later, Six is recovering from his injuries in a high-security hospital underground. Dani, Denny, and Suzanne are all back at the CIA, and the official story is that none of them did anything wrong. Claire is on house arrest in Virginia, under the watch of CIA agents. Suzanne assures Denny that as long as the CIA has Claire, they can control Six.

But not so fast. Suzanne and Denny go to visit Six in that super secure prison, only to discover the guards dead, and Six gone. In Virginia, Claire finds a note on one of her precious records to “Play me, loud.” She does, and then covers her ears to the sound of all the guards around her being shot. Six walks into her room, makes a quip about chewing gum, and then he and Claire ride off together into the horizon.

With that, the movie ends.

Is there a Gray Man after-credits scene?

Nope! There is not a Gray Man mid-credits or post-credits scene. It’s a pretty straightforward conclusion, and, apparently, the Russos didn’t feel it needed a tag. But it does leave the door open for more adventures with Six, now with a surrogate daughter by his side. So will there be a The Gray Man sequel? Well, you’ll just have to wait and see.