‘The Beast in Me’ Ending Explained

In The Beast in Me, viewers quickly learn that you never really know what’s going on in the house next door.

The twisty Netflix thriller, which premiered on Nov. 13, Claire Danes stars as author Aggie Wiggs, who lives alone in the posh suburbs of New York City. Aggie is an accomplished writer who has been suffering from writer’s block ever since the death of her young son at the hands of a drunk driver, a local teenager named Teddy Fenig (Bubba Weiler).

But everything takes a wild and sinister turn after disgraced businessman Nile Jarvis (Matthew Rhys) moves in next door with his new wife, Nina (Brittany Snow). Nile has relocated to the suburbs to escape a massive scandal after his previous wife, Madison, mysteriously disappeared. Despite this, Nile and Aggie strike up an unlikely friendship.

However, things get complicated when Teddy vanishes — under suspiciously similar circumstances to Nile’s first wife. As Aggie grows closer to Nile, she must contend with the danger he poses — and why, exactly, she’s so drawn to him.

So, how does The Beast in Me end? Here’s everything to know about the thriller series’ final moments.

Warning: The Beast in Me spoilers ahead!

What happens in The Beast in Me?

Upon meeting Nile and his wife, Aggie instantly feels like something is off. But after suffering from crippling writer’s block, she also feels that this could be her chance to write a new hit book. Aggie and Nile quickly become strange bedfellows, both using each other while also growing closer.

However, the relationship begins to crumble after Teddy mysteriously goes missing. Even worse, Teddy vanishes shortly after Aggie opens up to Nile about her son’s death. The timing and its similarities to Madison’s demise make Aggie wonder if she let a serial killer into her life.

Aggie begins secretly working with the FBI to uncover what happened to Madison and Teddy, using her friendship with Nile to mine for information. Little does she know, Teddy isn’t actually dead — Nile’s been keeping him alive to use him as blackmail, just in case Aggie ever gets too close to the truth.

Sure enough, Aggie ends up finding proof that Nile killed Madison. What she doesn’t know is that Nile has also murdered the FBI agent she had been working with, Brian Abbott (David Lyons). So when she texts Brian to say she’s finally found evidence of Nile’s crimes, it’s Nile who has the phone.

How does The Beast in Me end?

The final moments of The Beast in Me start with Aggie arriving home after texting Brian, unaware that Nile is in possession of his phone. When she walks in, she sees that the manuscript for her book, which she titled The Beast and Me, has been read by Nile. He’s made several annotations, including changing the title to The Beast in Me.

Then, she gets a call from Nile, who tells her he understands the anger she had against Teddy.

“But I didn’t know you had it in you … until I walked upstairs,” he continues.

Aggie slowly creeps up her stairs and finds that Nile has killed Teddy and put his body in her house to frame her. He’s also called the police, tipping them off.

As the authorities race towards Aggie’s house, she flees, desperately hoping to buy some time to clear her name.

Is Nile ever caught?

Throughout the show, audiences see cracks form between Nile and his pregnant wife Nina, who appears to slowly realize that something is wrong with her husband.

In a last-ditch effort to clear her name, Aggie sneaks into the gallery where Nina works. During their confrontation, Aggie tells Nina that she must know, deep down, that Nile killed his first wife. Aggie has already called the cops and turns herself in, but she begs Nina to somehow take Nile down before it’s too late.

That night, Nina arrives back home and is confronted by Nile, who knows that Aggie was arrested at her gallery. But instead of caring about her well-being, Nile seems more interested in whether Aggie said anything about him before the cops arrived. This seems to finally break Nina’s confidence in Nile, and she confronts him about the murders.

Initially, he refuses to answer and tries to walk away. But then Nina says, “Just at least have the balls to say it to my f—— face.” Enraged at Nina’s outburst, Nile finally cracks and confesses in a fit of rage, admitting to both Madison’s and Teddy’s murders.

Nile, exhausted, then says he’s tired of hiding. Oddly, Nina tells him that he doesn’t have to, cradling her husband.

What happens to Aggie?

The next day, Nile holds a press conference to announce new progress in his development project, Jarvis Yards. He’s in good spirits, thinking he’s once again gotten away with murder and ruined Aggie’s life.

As he talks onstage, he sees Nina watching. After his presentation, Nile tries to hug her, but she won’t let him, telling him to listen to his voicemail. As he plays the message, he hears that she was secretly recording him during their confrontation — including his murder confessions.

The FBI rushes in and arrests him. As he’s being escorted out of the building, he sees Aggie standing there, free from jail.

Thanks to her harrowing ordeal with Nile, Aggie does indeed write her book, which becomes a first-person narrative about her experience. She’s seen reading a book, standing in front of a group of journalists and her publishers, implying that the book has become a huge hit.

In the next scene, audiences see that Nina has read the book, too. She is now raising her and Nile’s child as a single mother.

What happens to Nile?

Nile isn’t as fortunate as his adversary. In a scene narrated by Aggie, audiences learn that shortly after being incarcerated, Nile is stabbed to death by his fellow inmates in a plot orchestrated by his uncle (Tim Guinee).

In the final scene, audiences watch Nile bleed out on the floor. Aggie narrates, “We reap what we sow, in this life, or the next. Karmas are inheritances. A birthright. But, however we choose to define it, Nile was right about one thing. Karma is a motherf—–.”