'A Quiet Place: Day One' Ending Explained: Do Lupita Nyong’o and Joseph Quinn Survive? (2025)

In 2018, John Krasinski's A Quiet Place first introduced us to the family of Lee (Krasinski) and Evelyn (Emily Blunt) Abbott, survivors of an invading and nigh-invulnerable alien species (often called Death Angels) who viciously attack anything that makes a sound (except each other, despite the extremely loud way they attack their prey). The Abbotts' struggles were continued in A Quiet Place Part II, meeting new survivors and finding surprising ways to deal with the alien threat. The new prequel A Quiet Place: Day One follows brand new characters, Sam (Lupita Nyong'o) and Eric (Joseph Quinn), set adrift in New York City on day one of the alien attack. The new setting and memorable new charactersprovide the closest and most extensive look at the Death Angels' arrival that audiences have seen so far, and the very first look at their devastating effects on packed urban centers. It also provides an expanded, though still partial, look into some survivors who came to lead the island colony of A Quiet Place Part II. With so much packed into this film, let's take a look at everything that went down in the bittersweet finale.

A Quiet Place: Day One

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Release Date

June 28, 2024

Director

Michael Sarnoski

Cast

Lupita Nyong'O , Alex Wolff , Djimon Hounsou

Main Genre

Drama

Writers

Scott Beck , John Krasinski , Jeff Nichols

Distributor(s)

Paramount Pictures

Sequel(s)

A Quiet Place , A Quiet Place: Part II

What is 'A Quiet Place: Day One' About?

In A Quiet Place: Day One, Sam is a cancer patient and hospice resident who heads into Manhattan with other residents and nurse Reueben (Alex Wolff) to see some puppetry. Their trip is interrupted by the Death Angels' initial descent from the stars, destroying the bus, killing many, and stranding Sam and Reuben among the terrified initial survivors. Here they first meet Henri (Djimon Hounsou), the man who eventually comes to lead the island survivor community that audiences meet in A Quiet Place Part II. Sam ends up heading off alone (save for her adorable cat Frodo) on her true mission: returning to Harlem, and finding a slice of Patsy's Pizza. Despite everyone being told to get to the water as the aliens can't swim and survivors are being rescued on government-mandated boats, Sam is determined to make it to Harlem. She comes to meet her most important human companion, Eric (Joseph Quinn), a displaced British law student in New York, and the pair of unlikely travelers journey together to Harlem (despite Sam's initial attempts to get rid of him), changing each others' lives along the way.

Sam and Eric Meet Because of a Very Cute Cat

Eric first appears from inside a flooded subway tunnel, soaked, terrified, and clearly overwhelmed by trauma. He's panicking but catches his breath when he sees Frodo peering down at him from above. Locking eyes with the cat snaps him back into focus, and he subsequently finds Sam. Her mind is entirely set on returning home to Harlem, and the frightened and isolated Eric has nowhere else to turn to and doesn't want to be alone, so he follows Sam and Frodo on her journey (despite her best attempts to lose him). The pair end up proving useful to each other: Sam keeps a cool head amidst crisis, no doubt aided by her history of wrestling with her own certain mortality, while Eric has a complimentary physical strength to help Sam when pain proves too much.

The unlikely travelers help each other survive harrowing circumstances, and in doing so they subtly become friends against an increasingly dangerous apocalypse. Saving a cat from creatures has a strong pedigree in monster movie history, famously in Ridley Scott's 1979 classic Alien (even sparking an influential, somewhat infamous screenwriting book), making it both amusing that the cat (and, specifically, the regular task of finding, transporting, or saving it) was so integral to the protagonists' meeting. In this particular franchise, it's also a smart plot device given cats' reputations as silent predators with adorable faces.

Sam's Obsessed With Finding Harlem Pizza Because Of Her Childhood Memories

As the duo gets closer to Harlem, along with Sam's health depleting by the second, we discover the reason for Sam's obsessive journey for Harlem pizza against the flow of panicking people. Sam has strong, comforting childhood memories with her father (before his untimely death, also from cancer), specifically seeing him perform jazz and grabbing Patsy's Pizza. Facing her own mortality at the end of her projected lifespan and what could be an apocalypse has made Sam want to revisit and remember that warm memory above all else. When Eric and Sam discover that getting Patsy's is no longer possible as the building has been destroyed, Eric has an idea: What if they find the jazz club she so associates with her father? Here, they share some whiskey and Eric tracks down pizza from another restaurant and writes "Patsy's" on the box. The new friends share a beautiful set of moments, and, with Sam's mission complete, the pair set out to hit the shore before the boats leave the harbor.

This very specific protagonist goal may seem strange at first, but it's an original, moving spin on some classic themes in film and literature history. The long journey home has been a staple theme in Western literature since Homer's Odyssey, inspiring a variety of works of literature and films like O Brother, Where Art Thou? The film also shares a theme with a classic of film history (often considered one of the best films of all time), Citizen Kane. That film's central mystery starts with the dying words of news magnate Charles Foster Kane (Orson Welles), who utters "Rosebud" on his deathbed. We come to discover that in his dying moments, he was reflecting on a moment of innocence from his childhood--Rosebud was his childhood sled. Just like Charles Foster Kane, Sam's thoughts are on warm childhood memories at the end of her life.

How Does 'A Quiet Place: Day One' End?

Sam and Eric find the harbor, seeing both a set of populated ships preparing to depart and, clearly, the Death Angels lined up at the shoreline. The creatures can't swim, and thus are fruitlessly patrolling the space between Sam and Eric, keeping the duo from easily heading to shore. Sam steels herself, and puts her yellow jacket on Eric, then hands him her beloved cat. It's clear: she wants him to survive, and to carry on with her beloved feline friend, as she has no chance of survival with her illness. Eric begins the dangerous trek to shore as Sam runs in another direction, making as much noise as possible.

The distraction allows Eric and Frodo to board the ship, one populated with Henri (and, presumably, other survivors that will create the island colony of A Quiet Place Part II). Eric later finds a heartwarming note in the jacket pocket — saving Eric and Frodo had been Sam's plan following the rekindling of her childhood memories. The final scene belongs to Sam alone. She takes one last walk through the deserted streets of Harlem, listening to Nina Simone's "Feeling Good." She relishes her last moment of normality before pulling the earphones out of the portable speaker to let the music blare. An alien hits the ground behind her and the screen cuts to black. It's fair to assume that Sam immediately gets killed by the Death Angel. But, hey, at least she went out Feeling Good and having made her way home.

A Quiet Place: Day One is in theaters on June 28th.

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