Did Max die in The Recruit? Season 1 ending explained
What happened to Max in the finale of The Recruit? We explain the cliffhanger and see what the actors and creators say about it.
Season 2 of The Recruit, the TV series that conquered the streaming platform in 2022, will debut on Netflix as early as January 30, 2025. The TV show tells the story of a young lawyer that is drawn into a dangerous international espionage scandal when a former CIA employee threatens to expose the agency's secrets.
What happened to Max in the season 1 finale of The Recruit?
The thrilling production is set to return with new episodes that are sure to clarify the puzzling ending of season 1, which raised a key question for viewers – did Max die? Season 1 of The Recruit had an open ending that didn't really give us a concrete answer. In Max's final moments in the TV series, we see how she was shot by Carol close to the chest, and season 1 ends right after that. We only saw the still completely silent Max bleeding. So only season 2 should confirm her death or show how she somehow survived being shot by her daughter. For now, that remains unclear.
What do the creators and actors of The Recruit say about Max's fate?
It turns out that not only viewers, but Laura Haddock herself, who plays Max, doesn't know what happened to her character. As she explained during an interview with Tudum, “I was like, ‘What does this mean, Alexi?’ But who knows? I have no idea what it means. It could go either way there, I suppose.”
For what it's worth, the creator of The Recruit, Alexi Hawley, is not going to give a concrete answer about Max's fate for now. However, he understands why it stirs up so much excitement in viewers.
Look, we did the most dramatic thing you can possibly do. And we did the thing we were building to the whole time, even though the audience didn’t know it, which was ultimately – the story of Max and Owen is one of her being a pathological survivor. Whether she cares for him, whether she doesn’t, whether she cares for her kid or doesn’t – everything comes in second to her just making it to the next day. That ultimately makes her a bit of a tragic figure, and so it was important to get to that point. Then, of course, the twist was powerful. In this day and age, where there’s 9,000 things on television, you have to be bold, you have to go big, and I felt like we really earned that moment.
This means that we'll have to wait until the season 2 premiere to find out whether Max died in the season 1 finale of The Recruit, as no information has been leaked even from the set about whether Haddock has returned to her role. Fortunately, the premiere of season 2 of The Recruit is not many days away, so the mystery will soon be cleared up.
The Recruit season 2 trailer
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