'Sorry to Bother You' Ending: What Happens Next, According to the Cast

Have you seen Sorry to Bother You yet? Great, get in here because we’re going to talk about what happens after the ending, at least based on what the movie’s two stars (Lakeith Stanfield and Tessa Thompson) and director Boots Riley told Inverse at a press event last month. Exciting stuff, we know.

Everyone else, consider this you’re official spoiler warning. Starting in the next paragraph, we won’t be holding back.

Okay, so, as you’re hopefully aware by now, Sorry to Bother You ends on a pretty huge twist. It turns out the evil company that’s taking advantage of the collapse of capitalism to turn Americans into slaves has an even more evil secret plan to turn those slaves into super-strong horse people. Crazy, right?

These Equisapians (as they’re called in the film) manage to escape with some help from protagonist Cassius “Cash” Green (Lakeith Stanfield), and they show up to save the day in the film’s climactic ending. Then, in a final twist, Stanfield transforms into an Equisapian as well before exacting his revenge on the company’s CEO in a post-credits scene.

But what happens after the ending? To find out, Inverse turned to Lakeith Stanfield, Tessa Thompson, and Boots Riley. Here’s what we learned.

How does the world change after Sorry to Bother You’s ending?

Boots Riley isn’t sure how the world he created will change after the movie ends, but he’s hopeful that the rebellion that begins in his alternate-reality Oakland will continue to spread with the help of the Equisapians.

“There is probably more rebellion gonna happen in that world,” he says.

Revolutionary that he is, Riley is much more focused on how the message of his film can translate into the real world. He argues that as a society, we’re much less civilized and advanced than we think we, pointing to our collective smartphone addiction as a prime example. Still, he’s cautiously optimistic about the future.

“Hopefully organizers will be able to use this film and talk to people and get people to want to engage with the world,” Riley says.

What happens to Cash and Detroit?

Speaking to Lakeith Stanfield and Tessa Thompson (who plays the female lead, artist-activist Detroit), we had to ask whether Cash’s physical transformation at the end of the film affected his romantic relationship with Thompson’s character. According to the two actors, his new horse body only brings them closer together.

“At the end of the film we’re more in love,” Stanfield says. “After the transformation that takes place with all of the characters that are involved we come to a new place in our understanding within ourselves.”

Thompson agrees, comparing Cash’s new Equisapian body to the way you open up to another person as you grow closer.

“I think so,” she says. “It’s that thing of when someone sees the worst version of you… It’s like how you affect a voice when you start dating somebody too. You know what I mean? This is the projection of my best, hottest self. And then when they see the worst version of you, you can sort of start again and go alright cool are you still interested you wanna hang out now?”

Sorry to Bother You is in theaters now.