Netflix's The Stranger's ending explained

Publish date: 2024-05-27

Was The Stranger some sort of fever dream that we all had at the same time? The bizarre (yet admittedly very gripping) adaptation of the Harlan Coben novel was a hit for Netflix, making the top ten most popular shows on the streaming service as fans flocked to social media to discuss theories how it might end. The mystery drama, which began with a missing woman, an alpaca head and a murder in a cake shop, wrapped up by revealing all of the answers to our questions. But for those who are still a little bewildered (frankly, aren't we all?), here is the ending of The Stranger explained…

What happened to Adam's wife?

To recap, all of the drama began after Adam was told by the Stranger that his wife had faked her pregnancy. Shortly after confronting Corrine, who tells him "there's more to this", she goes missing, texting him to tell him to leave her alone. In the finale, it is revealed that a family friend, Doug Tripp, had stolen money from their local football club and was discovered by Corrine, who gave him time to repay the money. However, he then employed the services of the Stranger to dig up information on Corrine that he might be able to use to blackmail her, which is why the Stranger found out information about the fake pregnancy.

READ: Everything you need to know about Netflix's The Stranger

After working out that it was Tripp who had tried to dig into Corinne's past to threaten her, she threatens to tell the truth about what happened to the club money. Tripp asks to meet her and kills her when she says she's going to the police, before sending a text from her phone to Adam to cover his tracks. Adam then kills Tripp in a rage, before being discovered by DS Johanna Griffin, who helps him cover up the crime, pinning it on Katz.

WATCH: The trailer for The Stranger

What was the deal with Katz?

It is revealed that dodgy police officer Katz murdered Heidi Doyle when he went to her for information about 'the Stranger', who he was being paid to track down on behalf of a wealthy client who was being blackmailed for using a 'sugar baby' website. Katz needed the extra money to pay for his daughter's healthcare, and goes into a rage when he discovers that she is actually being poisoned by his ex-wife in a case of Munchausen by proxy.

Who was the Stranger?

The Stranger was actually Christine Killane, Martin's daughter who grew up believing that her mother had abandoned her when she had actually been murdered by her father. She begins to track down information about people's lives to blackmail them, but also because she was hellbent on revealing secrets due to her family's own history. While looking into Corinne's family history on the job for Tripp, she discovers that Adam grew up on the same street that she did, and after a little research she finds out that Martin wasn't her biological father at all, and that she and Adam share the same dad. This was why she told Adam the truth about Corinne, without trying to solicit any money, because she wanted to help him out as her half-brother.

What happened to Dante Gunnarsson?

Dante was seen running naked through the woods before he was found knocked out cold. After spending most of the series in a coma, he comes around to say that he had wanted to go swimming with Daisy – hence the lack of clothes – but she had stolen them and ran away after thinking that Dante was trying to hit on her. He then fell and hit his head, and that was that.

READ: Meet Netflix’s The Stranger cast - from Richard Armitage to Jennifer Saunders

Who leaked the photos of Daisy's little sister?

Daisy was so angry when she discovered that Mike had posted naked photos of her younger sister online (even though it wasn't actually her), that she spiked Mike with a drug, causing him to hallucinate and behead the alpaca. However, Mike didn't actually post the photos – it was Olivia, Katz's daughter.