Abigail Ending Cameo Explained: Why SPOILER Makes An Appearance

Abigail (2024) isn’t the type of movie that you would assume has big twists or surprises, but there is at least one surprise cameo worth discussing. 

Talking about the surprise reveal of Abigail can’t be done without dropping MAJOR SPOILERS, obviously, so you’ve been warned! 

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All throughout the story of Abigail we get brushstrokes of mystery about who is the mysterious girl the crew of criminals has kidnapped – and more importantly to them, who is her powerful father? 

One twist in the story comes when the crew finds out that Abigail is the daughter of “Kristof Lazar,” a crimelord whose sprawling empire, ruthless brutality, and impenetrable anonymity have made him as mythic as Keyser Soze (The Usual Suspects). Once Laza’s name gets dropped, the game changes for the crew, who begin thinking of how they can escape and/or bargain their way out of a death sentence. Things get even more twisted when the crew finds out that their “victim,” young Abigail, is actually a much older vampire – and the barbaric assassin that her father delpoys against his enemies. 

It comes down to former army medic-turned-addict “Joey” (Melissa Barrera) and former cop-turned-bad man Frank (Dan Stevens), who each have very different ideas of how to solve the problem. Frank lets himself get turned into a vampire, to ambush and kill Abigail and Kristof, and seize the reigns of their crime empire for himself. Joey tries to maintain a bond with Abigail, to bargain for her life and freedom; together, Abigail and Joey fight Frank, and ultimately kill him, but only after both ladies take heavy damage. When Joey is limping her way out of the slaughterhouse mansion, Abigail’s father arrives and has a very different outlook on her survival chances. 

Abigail Ending Explained: Who Played Lazar? 

Actor Matthew Goode (Watchmen, Stoker, A Discovery of Witches) makes a cameo appearance in Abigail as Kristof Lazar, Abigail’s vampire/crimelord father. Goode rocks a high-stacked pompadour, a long coat, and overgrown fingernails. His dialogue and appearance hold Easter egg hints that Lazar has actually been the inspiration for vampire lore that ranges from Darcula to the film Nosferatu, before becoming a modern-day crimelord. 

Lazar lives up to his reputation for being inhuman, viewing “Joey” as little more than a loose end and/or food. However, Abigail takes issue with her father for not protecting her from the attempted vampire coup that Frank and his handler Lambert (Giancarlo Esposito) tried to stage. When Abigail praises Joey for doing the job her father did not, Lazar begrudgingly decides to let Joey live as a sign of his “gratitude” and “repayment” for his daughter’s life. Joey takes the hint and gets the hell out of there while monster dad and monster daughter are having a moment. 

Like Dan Stevens, Matthew Goode has made some big career strides playing creepy, violent, or monstrous characters – making a perfect choice to bring Abigail to a satisfying conclusion – and possibly set the franchise up for many future installments to come.

“I don’t think that we can imagine anybody but Matthew in that role now that he’s done it,” co-director Matt Bettinelli-Olpin explained to EW. “It was just a spectacular day of filming with him. He really gave it to us.” 

“The thing that we really loved about Matthew is that he doesn’t present as this brute, that there’s something really ethereal and graceful about him that is weirdly scarier,” director Tyler Gillett added. “If you see this character who feels like they’re not of this planet to a certain extent, there’s something so scary about a character like that who has the power that everyone knows he has in the world of our story.”

Abigail is now playing in theaters.