The End of Oak Street spoilers follow.
The End of Oak Street star Ewan McGregor has shared that the film’s original ending was a lot darker than the one we got to see in cinemas. While the conclusion of David Robert Mitchell’s sci-fi movie has some bleak undertones of its own, it was initially planned to play out very differently.
Directed by It Follows’ Mitchell and co-produced by JJ Abrams, The End of Oak Street follows a family’s quest for survival as their 1982 neighbourhood is suddenly transported into the age of dinosaurs.
Warner Bros.
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McGregor plays Greg, who’s in an unhappy marriage with Denise, portrayed by Anne Hathaway. Together with their two children, played by Maisy Stella and Christian Convery, they are forced to fend off dinosaurs when a sudden flash of white light catapults the entire area into a prehistoric landscape.
In a recent interview with USA Today, McGregor spilled some details about the “more interesting” ending that didn’t make the final cut.
In the final version, Greg dies after being eaten by a dinosaur, while Denise, their kids and neighbourhood girl Jeannette jump through a portal that takes them back to 1982, shortly before the white light burst.
Denise manages to warn the residents, including her husband Greg, who she tasks with delivering a pizza to a bus stop away from the area that would be affected by the time-travelling glitch.
McGregor admitted it got “complicated” for him, though he enjoyed the relative happy ending that gives his character – the timeline 1 version of him, that is – and Denise the chance to mend their marriage.
“I try not to bother about it too much and said the lines, and I’m happy to be there at the end of the film. I’ll let the sort of scientists figure out how it works or the quantum theorists figure out if it’s possible or not,” he said.
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About the “more interesting” initial finale, McGregor revealed that Denise and the children’s hop through the portal landed them “in the prairies during the settlers’ times”.
“They hadn’t made it back to their own time, and poor old Greg wasn’t there,” McGregor said.
Hathaway told Entertainment Weekly that she’d been “so invested” in the original ending, though she explained it was changed very early on during filming.
“I have to give all credit to David and JJ because they had total faith that it was the right thing to do. And they kept turning to me and I was like, ‘Guys, I was so invested in the other version. I have no way of knowing this. I’m just trusting you that this is the right thing to do’,” she said.
Warner Bros.
The film, which is dedicated to Mitchell’s late father who died in 2024, ended up working with the new conclusion, said Hathaway.
“When I saw the movie, I saw it with someone who had lost their father, and they burst into tears at the ending,” the star recalled. “They said, ‘Actually, it’s just what I want from a movie like this, and it could only happen in a movie, and I love it’. And so I just want to give my absolute credit and hats off to JJ and David for coming up with that ending.”
The End of Oak Street is now in cinemas.
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Stefania is a freelance writer specialising in TV and movies. After graduating from City University, London, she covered LGBTQ+ news and pursued a career in entertainment journalism, with her work appearing in outlets including Little White Lies, The Skinny, Radio Times and Digital Spy.
Her beats are horror films and period dramas, especially if fronted by queer women. She can argue why Scream is the best slasher in four languages (and a half).