# The Thing Ending Explained
John Carpenter’s 1982 film “The Thing” ends with one of horror’s most debated moments. After the base is destroyed and most of the crew is dead, two survivors sit in the frozen wreckage: Kurt Russell’s MacReady and Keith David’s Childs. They’re both badly wounded, exhausted, and asking each other what they’re going to do next. For over 40 years, audiences have argued about what this scene really means.
The central question is simple but impossible to answer with certainty: is one of them the alien creature, or are they both human? Some viewers think they’re both the Thing, essentially aliens discussing survival with each other. Others believe one is human and one is the creature. The ambiguity has spawned countless theories and heated debates among fans.
However, cinematographer Dean Cudney provided what many consider a definitive answer during commentary for the Blu-Ray restoration of the film. Cudney explained that he and Carpenter developed a visual system to signal who was human and who wasn’t. Whenever a character had a glint in their eye, it meant they were human. This approach was similar to the eye test in Blade Runner, where red eyes revealed replicants. When you freeze-frame the final scene and look closely at both MacReady and Childs, both men have that telltale glint in their eyes. According to this interpretation, they were both human at the end.
Yet this technical answer doesn’t fully capture what makes the ending so unsettling. The real horror of “The Thing” isn’t actually about the alien creature itself. It’s about paranoia. From the moment the men realize they can’t trust what they see, the group begins to fall apart. The alien’s true power isn’t its ability to kill, but its ability to destroy trust completely.
By the film’s end, paranoia has become the real threat. Even if both MacReady and Childs are human, the damage is done. They can’t trust each other. They can’t cooperate. Whatever made them human, whatever allowed them to work together, is already gone. The alien may or may not still be alive, but it no longer needs to be. Paranoia will finish what the creature started.
This is why the ending still disturbs viewers decades later. It doesn’t offer the comfort of a solved mystery. Instead, it leaves you in the same state the film has been pushing you toward all along: suspicion, doubt, and fear of the person next to you. Even if help arrives, there may be no survivors left to save. The Thing has won not by surviving in a body, but by infecting the human mind with distrust.
Interestingly, Carpenter actually filmed an alternate happy ending as insurance against studio interference. In this version, MacReady is rescued at McMurdo Station and given a blood test to prove he’s human. However, Carpenter never intended to use this ending and didn’t even show it to Universal executives. He felt strongly that the ambiguous, paranoia-soaked conclusion was the right choice for the film. That alternate ending has never been officially released on any home video format.
The genius of “The Thing” is that it works on multiple levels. You can debate the technical details about eye glints and who was infected. You can analyze the game sequel that showed Childs’ frozen body and MacReady fighting a final boss. But ultimately, the ending’s power comes from what it says about human nature. When trust breaks down, when paranoia takes hold, the real monster isn’t the alien anymore. It’s us.
Sources
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpkHWZZpkrA
https://entertainment.ie/movies/movie-news/the-final-scene-the-thing-397210/
