Moonshot Ending Explained (In Detail) | Screen Rant
Warning! SPOILERS for Moonshot.
Moonshot, which stars To All the Boys' Lana Condor and Riverdale's Cole Sprouse, ends much like many other romcoms: the two lovers end up together. Indeed, while HBO's Moonshot does introduce some new elements to the genre, it doesn't really veer away from the core romcom formula. That said, at its core, Moonshot is more than just a romcom, and its ending drives home certain crucial points about the problems of modern society.
In the year 2049, humans have colonized Mars. However, only the smartest scientists can get a job on the red planet, and for those without the scientific know-how, commercial flights to Mars cost around $1 million. While Moonshot reveals very little about the movie's setting and timeline, it's also made clear that in this imagined near-future, Earth is still dying.
Moonshot's realistic sci-fi setting paves the way for the love triangle between Walt, Sophie, and Sophie's boyfriend Calvin, who is played by Scream 5's Mason Gooding. Although Moonshot revolves around this developing love story, it's impossible to ignore how the characters' decisions are still informed by the surrounding conditions of the spacefaring age. Here's everything that you might have missed in the ending of Moonshot.
In the last scenes of Moonshot, Walt follows Sophie on the ship back to Earth, and the two share their first kiss, suggesting that they end up together. However, there's more to this classic romcom ending than meets the eye. Sophie essentially decides to go back to Earth because Walt was right about Calvin all along. Calvin had no intentions of returning to Earth and pursuing the long-term plans that he and Sophie agreed upon. When Sophie arrives at Mars, Calvin simply imposes his own plans for Sophie's life. This is more than an issue of a boyfriend being extremely controlling. Walt, Sophie, and Calvin aren't just caught in a classic awkward love triangle. In reality, Sophie and Calvin's split is a matter of differences in core principles.
Although details are sparse about 2049, Earth is no better off in Moonshot's vision of the near-future. This is the main reason why the planet's brightest minds and richest wallets are settling on Mars. Together, Sophie and Calvin hoped to use their combined scientific expertise to develop a type of algae that can literally eat garbage, a huge step in ensuring Earth's environmental integrity and the human race's survival on the planet. However, Calvin ditches this plan in order to use his knowledge of terraforming to stay in Mars and hold down a promising career. Sophie never expected this because she genuinely thought that Calvin shared her dreams of working towards fixing Earth. Instead, through Calvin's actions, Sophie finds out that he's no different from any of the other technocrats and rich people in the cast of Moonshot who have basically given up on our planet. Meanwhile, although Walt isn't a brilliant scientist like Calvin, he's genuinely invested not just in Sophie, but also Sophie's long-term plans for Earth. For Sophie, the choice between Walt and Calvin is like choosing between Earth and Mars, which is why Sophie ultimately chooses Walt.
Leon Kovi (Zach Braff) was the first man to step foot on Mars, and he now owns the company that settles and arranges transportation for the red planet. In Kovi Industries' public ads, Leon always starts off by introducing himself as a self-made billionaire. Although Leon is genuinely invested in the idea of adventure and exploration, it's also clear that Kovi Industries is primarily concerned with making money – as evidenced by the stellar prices for tickets to Mars and how Leon spins a security threat into a PR stunt. In short, Leon Kovi is a caricature of real-life technocrat and billionaire Elon Musk. Much like Elon's billionaire vanity projects in the real-world, Kovi Industries has its eyes set on the stars, despite the fact that Earth is dying. Leon even outright tells Walt that even though his wealth could solve world hunger several times over, he chooses to put it into developing infrastructure for space instead – a common criticism thrown at Elon Musk by environmental activists.
Leon claims that Mars isn't just a playground for the rich. However, this is exactly how Kovi Industries has set up its Mars colony – open only to those who can contribute to settling efforts, or anyone with around $1 million. This means that Mars is mostly populated not just by scientists, but also people who are rich enough to become Squid Game VIPs - for frame of reference. It's basically a high-tech playground for the super rich, a place where people with either the expertise or the money can go to escape Earth's environmental problems, the roots of which can be traced back to the unregulated actions of technocrats and billionaires. In short, Mars represents a way for rich people to escape planet-killing problems that they themselves are responsible for. Meanwhile, for the average man like Walt, the only way to get to Mars is to stowaway on a ship, and the only way to escape prosecution for stowing away is to agree to become Kovi Industries' PR puppet. In Moonshot, the Mars colony represents not just the hopes and dreams of humanity but also how humanity's future is being controlled by a privileged few.
Moonshot isn't just a classic romcom. It's also aimed at tackling serious issues such as environmental decline, class privilege, and wealth inequality. While Moonshot's upbeat and eclectic soundtrack and love story are what draw viewers in, its ending is what drives these crucial points home. Underneath the glossy surface of a quirky romance between two of the biggest stars in recent romcom history, the movie takes literal moonshots at how billionaires are able to simply escape Earth's problems. That said, Moonshot is also about hope. Without the rose-colored glasses of adventurism, Walt stops pursuing Ginny, and Sophie chooses Earth over being with Calvin. Although Sophie's plans to fix Earth might take longer without Calvin's help, through Walt's support, she's assured that Earth is worth her best efforts.
Moonshot is streaming now on HBO Max.