Summary

  • 2001: A Space Odyssey's ending has been the source of debate for over fifty years.
  • Stanley Kubrick confirmed that Dave Bowman is transformed into a "super-being" and sent back to Earth.
  • 2001: A Space Odyssey's ambiguous ending likely wouldn't work in modern cinema.

Since its release in 1968, Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey has been revered by many as one of the most influential movies ever made. The special effects, depiction of space travel, and manner of storytelling were way ahead of their time. More importantly, the movie showed that science fiction filmmaking could be an art form, revealing the genre's potential and permanently demolishing the myth that it was strictly for kids. It painted a vision of humanity both wondrous and bleak while providing a long, dark stare into the mysteries of the cosmos.

Perhaps it's no surprise, then, that decades after its release, movie-goers still debate back and forth about the true meaning of the iconic sci-fi movie's infamously ambiguous ending. 2001: A Space Odyssey's ending keeps with the rest of the film, as it reveals its answers obliquely at best and runs against the time-honored Hollywood tradition of being as clear to the audience as possible. Its deliberate enigmas have baffled film lovers to no end, and indeed are a part of what so many people find so fascinating about it. There have even been thousands of articles and YouTube analyses attempting to explain the conclusion, yet few realize that Kubrick himself gave a rare interview explaining exactly what happened.

Updated February 12, 2024, by Robert Vaux: 2001: A Space Odyssey is one of the most beloved projects of acclaimed director Stanley Kubrick's vast filmography. Scenes and themes from the movie have been recreated and referenced in countless other sci-fi projects over the last several decades, helping cement 2001: A Space Odyssey as one of the most culturally important films ever made. However, even over fifty years after the film's release, its ambiguous ending continues to leave some audience members bewildered. Despite his general avoidance of interviews, Kubrick helped clear up some of the confusion regarding 2001: A Space Odyssey's controversial final sequence. The article's content has been updated, and the formatting changed to reflect current CBR guidelines.

The Epic Sci-Fi Plot of 2001: A Space Odyssey

Title

Author

Publisher

Pages

First Printing

"The Sentinel"

Arthur C. Clarke

10 Story Fantasy magazine

14

Spring, 1951

Related
Stanley Kubrick's Adaptation of The Shining Has Surprisingly Different Origins
Stanley Kubrick adapted Stephen King's The Shining, which is now a cult classic. But Kubrick's adaptation was inspired by another celebrated director.

2001: A Space Odyssey's roots begin with Arthur C. Clarke's short story, "The Sentinel." Stanley Kubrick was inspired by Clarke's story and wanted to work it into a film, so he requested Clarke's assistance in putting together a plot. Instead of working from Clarke's short story alone, Clarke and Kubrick teamed up to craft a full-length novel to work as the basis for what eventually became 2001: A Space Odyssey​​​​​​. Before 2001: A Space Odyssey's controversial ending, the story was pretty easy to follow. The beginning of the film follows the dawn of mankind as a group of apes discovers a black monolith mysteriously placed at their camp. They soon harnessed the power of tools — or more accurately, weapons — suggesting that the monolith had something to do with their evolution into more sophisticated beings. Then, in one of cinema history's most iconic cuts, a bone flying through the air transitioned to a floating space station, or more specifically, a weapon pointed at a nation below. The message was subtle but unmistakable; millions of years later, humanity still hasn't escaped the violent instincts of those apes. A monolith was found on the moon and thus confirmed the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence, and the artifact sent out a screeching signal to Jupiter. Accompanied by the super-computer HAL 9000, who predated the popular AI trope in the sci-fi genre, a team of astronauts set out to follow this mysterious transmission to get some answers — and all of that is just in the first act.

The middle section of 2001: A Space Odyssey turns into an almost perfect wrinkle on the Frankenstein story. Believing that humans were a detriment to the mission, HAL attempted to murder everyone on board, with astronaut David Bowman being the last survivor. It ended with a chilling battle of wits, as Bowman escaped a seemingly foolproof trap to shut down the homicidal machine. Though neither of them was entirely aware of the implications at the time, at stake was the potential first contact with an alien species. Would a human being do that? Or a machine that had itself "evolved" to surpass its creators?

This is where 2001 took a turn, as David discovered another monolith on Jupiter, which gave him an abstract vision filled with various shapes and colors. He then found himself in a cleanly lit room and watched himself rapidly age into an old man. As David lay withered in bed, he reached out to the monolith and became a baby. 2001: A Space Odyssey's final shot showed this child floating above planet Earth.

Stanley Kubrick Breaks Down the Cryptic Ending

Red-suited Dr. David Bowman walking through a spaceship in 2001: A Space Odyssey

During an interview for Japanese audiences, Kubrick was asked what 2001: A Space Odyssey's last scene meant, and he explained that Dave was "taken in by godlike entities; creatures of pure energy and intelligence." This is what the colors and hallucinations were supposed to represent. He then described the room as "a human zoo," where Dave was observed and had no sense of time. The idea for the strangely decorated room came from the way zoo enclosures attempt to mimic the wilderness but are never completely authentic. That also explains Dave's often jarring shift through time, appearing to observe himself as an increasingly older man before shifting perspective. If humanity's understanding and experience of time were just another part of the "zoo enclosure," it might not work quite the way its occupants expected.

Explaining the most confusing part of the ending, Kubrick said, "He is transformed into some kind of super being and sent back to Earth... and we have to only guess what happens when he goes back." This suggests that finding the Jupiter monolith allowed David to move on to the next step of human evolution, though the implications of that remain unclear. Some fans dislike Kubrick's choice to explain the ending, as he says, "I try to avoid doing this," since it runs the risk of ruining the thought-provoking experience. It does give the film a strange sense of closure, however, beginning with the moment that an ape became something more and ending with humanity's next step up the ladder. It's literally the story of the species from start to finish, and its cryptic questions can't eclipse the satisfying perfection of Kubrick's explanation, since the aliens and their purpose are never truly revealed. Most will agree that his personal interpretation doesn't diminish 2001: A Space Odyssey's charm, as the climax's deeper meaning is still open for debate.

Would 2001: A Space Odyssey's Open Ending Work Today?

Baby staring at Earth in 2001: A Space Odyssey
Related
The Unusual Reason 2001: A Space Odyssey's Props Are So Rare
Even though 2001: A Space Odyssey is one of the most revered classics of all time, most of the film's iconic props are nowhere to be found.

While 2001: A Space Odyssey is considered by many to be one of the greatest movies of all time, cinema has changed drastically in the fifty-five years since its release. Films are very rarely conceived of as standalone projects anymore, and even 2001 received a sequel in 1984's 2010: The Year We Made Contact. With the rise of sequels, prequels, spinoffs, franchises, and cinematic universes, films are perceived as being part of a larger story in which every question is answered sooner or later. As a result, audiences very rarely receive a truly ambiguous ending to a film. While films like Joker may try to do so, these endings are often undercut by sequels, as Joker: Folie á Deux proves.

Audiences are changing the way they consume movies, choosing to remain in specific franchises more often than galavanting around brand-new worlds, and few big-budget movies have ever risked baffling audiences the way 2001 does. Indeed, traditional storytelling instincts demand that the plot stay as clear as possible, so viewers won't become lost. Kubrick flew directly in the face of that, but he was one of filmmaking's true geniuses, which can't be readily duplicated. As such, it might be best if 2001: A Space Odyssey is never remade, instead remaining a time capsule signifying a different age of moviemaking. On the other hand, because so few films of its caliber are made today, audiences may be yearning for something more akin to 2001: A Space Odyssey, including its ambiguous ending. Just as Dave Bowman evolves but remains the same at his core, audiences still want to be entertained and even challenged by the movies they see. As a result, going back to a simpler, more erudite way of ending a film could reinvigorate audiences who have so long had endings spoon-fed to them.

2001: A Space Odyssey's ambiguous ending may not be as challenging as it once was, thanks to Stanley Kubrick's clarifications. However, the film and its ending still leave a major mark on cinema, standing as hallmarks of a different era of moviemaking. As beloved as 2001 is to this day, it likely would never have been made today.

an epic drama of adventure and exploration in 2001- A Space Odyssey (1968)
2001: A Space Odyssey
G
Adventure
Science Fiction

After uncovering a mysterious artifact buried beneath the Lunar surface, a spacecraft is sent to Jupiter to find its origins: a spacecraft manned by two men and the supercomputer HAL 9000.

Release Date
May 12, 1968
Director
Stanley Kubrick
Cast
Keir Dullea , Gary Lockwood , William Sylvester
Runtime
2 hours 29 minutes
Main Genre
Science Fiction
Writers
Stanley Kubrick , Arthur C. Clarke
Production Company
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Stanley Kubrick Productions