Netflix’s The Whisper Man has arrived, and the crime thriller is already dividing viewers over how dark its final act is willing to go. Based on Alex North’s bestselling novel, the film follows Adam Scott’s Tom Kennedy as he searches for his abducted son, only to uncover a connection to the serial killer his estranged father, played by Robert De Niro, put behind bars decades earlier.
James Ashcroft Says The Whisper Man’s Ending Isn’t Meant To Feel Like A Win
With the ending sparking plenty of discussion, director James Ashcroft and author Alex North sat down with ScreenRant’s Liam Crowley to explain exactly what they were going for, and why they don’t want audiences walking away feeling like it’s a clean victory.
Ashcroft explained that the film was never built around a mystery in the traditional sense, but around motive. The reveal that Francis Carter Jr., son of the original Whisper Man killer, has been carrying on his father’s legacy was designed to land as tragedy rather than triumph.
“I never saw this as so much a whodunnit; it’s more of a ‘why’ dunnit,” he said. “And it’s also, I think, very tragic as well. Owen, who plays the current Whisper Man, is ultimately a flawed character, yes, but he’s the final victim in this.”
North, who wrote the 2018 novel the film is based on, acknowledged that some readers have taken issue with the book’s ending in the years since it published, specifically the moment Frank kills his own son in his prison cell. North doesn’t see that reaction as a flaw in the story.
“It’s not meant to be a happy ending,” he said, agreeing with Ashcroft that the outcome is a tragic one for Francis, and that audiences aren’t meant to cheer when it happens.
The film also carries over one of the book’s more ambiguous touches. Before the credits roll, Tom realizes the Girl in the Blue Sweater his son Jake has been describing throughout the story was actually his own late mother as a child. North confirmed the detail is pulled straight from the source material, though he’s intentionally left the explanation open to interpretation.
“You can take it as a supernatural explanation, or you can take it as a psychological defense mechanism that Jake is going through in terms of who that little girl represents and how she operates for him throughout the story. But she’s my favorite character in it.”
The Whisper Man is now streaming on Netflix, starring Adam Scott, Robert De Niro, Michelle Monaghan, and Michael Keaton.