Outside Netflix Ending Explained: Is Francis Dead? What Happens to Francis, Iris, Josh and Lucas?

Directed and written by Carlo Ledesma, Outside is a Filipino Netflix film that tells the story of a family that takes refuge on a farm to escape the zombie epidemic that has destroyed the city. Francis (Sid Lucero), along with his wife Iris (Beauty Gonzalez) and their children, Josh (Marco Masa) and Lucas (Aiden Tyler Patdu), try to restore some normality in the midst of the devastating chaos, but the painful secrets they have kept for years come to the surface. What are these characters hiding? Do they manage to survive? Below, I will tell you what happened to the protagonists.

The psychological thriller, which premiered on October 17, 2024, begins with Francis and his family arriving at the farm in a car that shows everything they’ve been through to get to safety. Upon entering his childhood home, Francis is confronted with terrifying memories, as well as the corpse of his father and his mother turned into a zombie. After eliminating the threat, he buries the bodies and repairs some things. Although the protagonists of Outside seem to be safe on the farm, Iris insists on heading to a camp in the north. Although there she relives her past traumas, Francis refuses to leave, arguing that they have enough provisions to stay for a while and that at the farm she can get eggs, sugar cane, and other products.

Outside Movie: The Story Plot

At the center of this story, as we were saying, we find a family of four the father Francis (Sid Lucero), the mother Iris (Beauty Gonzales), and their two sons, Josh (Marco Masa) and Lucas (Aiden Tyler Patdu). In the beginning, we find them traveling to a remote location in the countryside, precisely the house of Francis’ father, a large farm where sugar cane was grown, and where the protagonist grew up. Amid a zombie apocalypse like the one they are facing, the idea of ​​taking refuge in the middle of nowhere seems ideal, in fact, food and clean water are waiting for them. Too bad, however, that during his childhood the young Francis suffered terrible traumas in that large house, and the nightmares of his past will soon come to the surface and threaten his sanity. As if that were not enough, the relationship with his wife Iris seems to have definitively deteriorated for reasons that we will discover during the vision. The small family will thus find itself fighting not only with threats coming from Outside but also with internal ones, which separate them and distance them from each other, putting them in even more danger at a time when staying together would be fundamental.

At Iris’ insistence, Francis agrees to search for the camp. However, he changes his mind when Josh, his eldest son, mentions that his uncle Diego also spoke of the place. The couple argue until they notice that the road is blocked. Desperate to continue on their way, Iris gets out of the car and tries to clear the way, but all she succeeds in doing is awakening a group of zombies that attack them. While Francis distracts the zombies, his wife and children manage to escape to the farm. After getting rid of the threat, the patriarch prepares to take the family vehicle, but after thinking better of it, he returns home claiming that the truck is not working. Is this true or is it a lie to discourage Iris from insisting on leaving? Francis and Iris try to make their new life work, but they can’t.

Francis is tormented by memories of the abuse he suffered in his childhood, and Iris is unhappy in her marriage and is planning to leave before the zombie outbreak. While Iris lets off steam by smoking, her husband mistreats Josh, whom he intends to teach to shoot. With this activity, he only succeeds in attracting a horde of zombies to the farm. Although the end of the protagonists of Outside seems inevitable, a miracle happens: a vehicle appears and attracts zombies. Francis knows that it is his brother Diego, so the next morning he looks for him to ask for explanations. Diego tells him that he will go to the camp and leaves him a map so that they can do the same. However, Francis hides it and tells his family that he arrived too late.

Is Francis dead?

Francis’ Dilemma: Upon arriving at the family home, Francis faces his traumas upon discovering that his father committed suicide after being bitten by a zombie, and his mother has already turned into one of these creatures, forcing him to kill her. Although
His wife Iris insists that they should seek help at a safe camp, but Francis resists. He feared that, once at the camp, his family would fall apart, especially since Iris had considered leaving him before the apocalypse. Furthermore, ghosts from the past, including the relationship between Iris and her brother Diego, push him to be more controlling.

Why Does Francis Start Acting Strangely?

His Father’s Shadow: As the plot progresses, Francis begins to behave similarly to his abusive father, believing that the only way to keep his family safe is by controlling them and locking them in the house. He ignores Iris and Josh’s wishes to find a safer haven, convinced that the Outside world will destroy them. He even goes so far as to bully his son Josh, forcing him to shoot a gun to show him that the danger is still real. However, this act attracts zombies to their homes, triggering a series of events that will put everyone’s lives at risk.

Why Does Josh Decide to Escape?

The desire for freedom: Josh, fed up with the situation and his father’s increasingly aggressive attitude, discovers a map of the camp in Francis’s belongings and decides to run away to find a better life. Before leaving, he confronts his mother Iris, who confesses that he is Diego’s son, something that Josh had already suspected. The young man can no longer bear his father’s control and chooses the risk of the Outside world rather than remain trapped in the family home.

What Happens to Francis, Iris, Josh and Lucas?

Francis’s breakdown: The situation becomes critical when a stranger arrives seeking help, sent by Diego, who is still alive. Iris, despite Francis’s opposition, helps the injured man, unleashing the fury of her husband. Francis, completely crazed, kills him and locks Iris and Lucas in the basement, fearing that they will abandon him too. Meanwhile, Josh has escaped in search of freedom. Francis’s desperation leads him to commit irrational acts, such as hunting a dog and offering meat to his family, who no longer recognize him. At the climax of Ahí Afuera, Iris and Lucas manage to escape from the basement and encounter Diego, now a zombie. Although Iris tries to stop him, Francis appears and brutally kills him. Convinced that Iris is responsible for his family’s breakup, he is about to kill her, but Lucas’s scream stops him: the boy has been bitten. Iris, using her knowledge as a nurse, cuts off Lucas’s arm to prevent the infection from spreading. Eventually, Francis agrees to seek help, but his fate is already sealed.

Does Francis Die?

Josh’s Sacrifice: In the final moments, Francis meets Josh on a bridge, where the young man, armed, shoots him without hesitation. Although it pains him to kill his own father, Josh understands that it is the only way to save his family. Before dying, Francis recognizes Josh as his son, revealing that he never hated him, but that it was the influence of the house and the traumas of his childhood that turned him into a monster. Finally, Iris, Lucas, and Josh see the light of a car approaching, which gives them hope of being rescued. Even if they survived, the memory of the horrors experienced in that house will haunt them for the rest of their lives.

What is Francis and Iris’ Secret?

Francis and Iris’s problems start when he finds out that Josh is actually Diego’s son, so he doesn’t want his brother to get close to his family and avoids going to camp. Before the zombie outbreak, Iris threatened to leave him, so he’s afraid that I’ll abandon him. When a wounded soldier arrives at the farm, Francis refuses to help him, but Josh opens the door and takes advantage of the distraction to escape that night. Iris wants to accompany him, but she cannot leave Lucas. Upon discovering his son’s escape, Francis murders the soldier in cold blood and locks his wife and son in the same place where his father punished him when he was a child.

Iris, Will You Manage to Escape?

Thanks to a lie from Lucas, Iris manages to escape and lock her husband up. However, before they can reach the road, she encounters Diego turns into a zombie, and must escape from him. Francis appears in time to save her but is unable to stop him from biting her son. To prevent the infection from advancing, Iris cuts off the boy’s arm and sends Francis after the car. After seeing his son’s suffering, Francis seems to regain his senses, but when he is reunited with Josh, he is shot. The young man, who was only trying to defend himself, apologizes to his father, who does the same with a gesture. Meanwhile, Iris sees the light of a car, which gives her hope of saving her son.