Does Leave The World Behind Set Up A Sequel?
Based on a novel of the same name by Rumaan Alam, Netflix's "Leave the World Behind" follows two families, the Sandfords and the Scotts, who end up stuck in the same house during a devastating cyberattack. With little information available to them, the film's characters struggle to adapt to the increasingly uncertain nature of the world around them — searching for answers where there might not be any. None of the film's leads die by the end, but "Leave the World Behind" also doesn't directly set up a sequel.
While the ending of "Leave the World Behind" presents viewers with a few potential answers to its many mysteries, it never explicitly states whether any of them are correct. The thriller's final minutes see Amanda Sandford (Julia Roberts) and Ruth Scott (Myha'la) look on in horror as bombs fall on New York City. That moment is followed by a scene in which Amanda's daughter, Rose (Farrah Mackenzie), discovers a hidden bunker in a neighboring house. As she explores the secret room, a computer warns that the White House and several major American cities have come under attack.
Rose doesn't pay attention to those warnings, though. Instead, she finds the bunker's DVD player and fulfills her wish of watching the final episode of "Friends." The film, in other words, purposefully avoids revealing the ultimate fates of its core characters and ends as ambiguously as possible. None of this means that a sequel is entirely out of the question, but continuing the story of "Leave the World Behind" would defeat the point of one of its biggest themes.
Leave the World Behind's ending is ambiguous for a reason
"Leave the World Behind" doesn't try to neatly wrap up its story, and neither does the novel it's based on. Both versions are concerned, among other things, with how human beings react in the face of overwhelming uncertainty. In its final act, the film argues for the importance of solidarity, but it doesn't make it easier for its characters to trust each other by offering them any clarifying pieces of information or assurances that they'll ultimately be safe.
The film leaves almost everything open to interpretation, and it sounds like that's exactly what its writer and director, Sam Esmail, wanted it to do. "I love movies where the end of the film is the beginning of a conversation, and when you answer all these questions, it closes the door on that," he told Collider. "For me, that robs the audience of something." In a different interview with GQ, Esmail similarly remarked, "The book ends with a question mark, and I love that. There isn't a final period-mark in the film; the point is that it lingers, and provokes conversation, and asks a question."
Of course, it isn't difficult to imagine a sequel to "Leave the World Behind" that follows the Sandfords and Scotts as they try to survive the collapse of contemporary American society. But that would rob the original film of its unsettling ambiguity. Taking the film's story and Esmail's comments into account, it seems highly unlikely that a follow-up to "Leave the World Behind" will be made anytime soon.