X Movie's Post-Credits Scene Explained: Pearl Trailer & Prequel Setup
Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Ti West's X.
Ti West's X contains an intriguing after-credits scene, but what is Pearl's trailer and prequel story setup about? First released domestically on March 18th, 2022, Ti West's "erotic horror" X has opened to rave reviews from the horror community, with critics noting X's desire to return to a well-trodden slasher formula that firmly acts as a poignant homage to classics such as John Carpenter's Halloween and Tobe Hooper's The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Despite the finality of its ending, X's immediate success has given rise to talk of a follow-up movie in the wake of Pearl (Mia Goth) and Howard's (Stephen Ure) murderous rampage.
The ending of X leaves only its final girl, Maxine (also played by Mia Goth), standing after a bloody closing act. Howard has his long-feared heart attack after his copulation with his wife before Maxine reverses over Pearl's head with RJ's (Owen Campbell) van in a brutal act of revenge. This leaves Maxine free to discover her heritage as the daughter of a prominent televangelist before she rides off into the night in time to avoid Sheriff Dentler (James Gaylyn) and the rest of his rural police force.
As a coda to all of this carnage, Ti West's X includes an intriguing after-credits scene that sets up a prequel movie for Pearl's character. This clip takes X audiences all the way back to 1918 (X takes place in 1979), showing Pearl's tribulations as a young woman living amidst the backdrop of World War I. Here's X's after-credits scene explained and how it sets up Ti West's Pearl prequel.
As aforementioned, X does include a short post-credits scene that acts as a teaser for Ti West's Pearl prequel. X's post-credits scene adopts a different visual style in comparison to the main body of Ti West's film, using grainier, black and white cuts interchanged with colorful Technicolor-style shots to evoke a different time period.
X's post-credits scene acts as a teaser for Ti West's upcoming prequel movie Pearl, which is set to follow X's primary antagonist in her youth. Just four days before X's domestic theatrical release, director Ti West stated (per LA Times) that he had already written a prequel for his latest slasher movie titled Pearl. In the same interview, West outlines his intentions for Pearl, saying that the prequel will "will be a melodrama meets the Technicolor style of Mary Poppins... made as a demented Disney movie." West goes on to say that the majority of Pearl has already been filmed in secret alongside X's production schedule, with the X prequel in editing as of March 2022 and an orchestral score for the film currently in the works.
The Pearl trailer is jam-packed with details despite its short one-minute runtime, beginning by taking audiences back to the X movie's gory farmhouse in 1918. The teaser then promises to show Pearl's story "before X," with shots of a young Pearl daydreaming amongst bales of hay and trying on clothing. The trailer then cuts to the real meat of its content, showing Pearl about to feed her incapacitated mother to an alligator (potentially even the same one from X's story) before cutting to a series of clips with Pearl hacking and slashing at unknown objects and people. The Pearl trailer then ends with a montage of quick-fire black and white and color scenes interchanging, showing a man on fire, clips from World War I, a young Howard returning from the war, and a swaying field of corn with the ominous advertisement "coming soon" above it.
As a result, Pearl's trailer teases several big storylines for the slasher character prequel already. The biggest of these is naturally Pearl's transition from a carefree young girl into psychopathy, with the Pearl trailer initially indicating Pearl is happy before a series of grotesque murders appear on-screen. Pearl's first teaser trailer also gives X audiences insight into how Pearl and Howard came to own their farmhouse and property, with Pearl likely inheriting it after feeding her mother to the alligator in the farm lake. Finally, Pearl's trailer confirms the prequel will go into detail on how Howard and Pearl met, as well as exploring the twisted relationship that led them to become the vicious killers that RJ and company unwittingly come up against in X.
Although X ends in finality for Pearl's character as her head is squashed by a wheel, Ti West's movie subtly sets up several avenues for the Pearl prequel even prior to its announcement. The biggest of these is the reveal that Maxine is the daughter of a conservative Christian whose speeches frequently played on Pearl and Howard's TV, indicating the now-dead couple's links to a more religious world than X deigns to reveal across its runtime. In addition to Maxine's heritage setting up an origin narrative, there is also the fact that X contains ample nods to Pearl's youth which she hungers for once again - with West almost imploring audiences to wonder about Pearl and Howard's younger years and their descent into evil.
Given X's immediate popularity upon release, talk of its now confirmed prequel is only set to intensify. At present, X is in the midst of a limited theatrical run, with Ti West's Pearl trailer likely to be held back as an Easter egg for committed X audiences until the end of this screening period. However, in light of West's comments that filming is already completed for Pearl, it makes sense for West to unveil the Pearl trailer for general perusal online sooner rather than later to add to the burgeoning hype around his "X trilogy." Furthermore, Ti West's confirmation that Pearl entered post-production in March 2022 means there is a strong chance that audiences could see the X prequel in theatres before the end of the year. Pearl's orchestral score is set to be completed by May 2022, which further points to a swift studio turnaround, meaning Pearl's trailer from the ending of X is likely to see an imminent wider release.