Glass Onion: Who is the Killer and Ending Explained

Spoilers for Glass Onion follow! Though filled with plenty of twists, turns, and surprises, Rian Johnson's Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is at its core still very much a whodunit with a murder at the center. Fans of the 2019 film shouldn't be too surprised to know that there's a lot going on in the follow-up, but for those interested in knowing what exactly happens or a refreshed about what they just saw, we've got you covered. Daniel Craig stars in the film once again as Benoit Blanc, leading an ensemble that includes Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., Jessica Henwick, Madelyn Cline with Kate Hudson and Dave Bautista.

For the sake of buffering you from the spoilers once again and making sure that you don't see anything you don't want to see, here's how Netflix describes the hit new sequel: "Benoit Blanc returns to peel back the layers in a new Rian Johnson whodunit. This fresh adventure finds the intrepid detective at a lavish private estate on a Greek island, but how and why he comes to be there is only the first of many puzzles. Blanc soon meets a distinctly disparate group of friends gathering at the invitation of billionaire Miles Bron for their yearly reunion. Among those on the guest list are Miles' former business partner Andi Brand, current Connecticut governor Claire Debella, cutting-edge scientist Lionel Toussaint, fashion designer and former model Birdie Jay and her conscientious assistant Peg, and influencer Duke Cody and his sidekick girlfriend Whiskey. As in all the best murder mysteries, each character harbors their own secrets, lies and motivations. When someone turns up dead, everyone is a suspect."

Who is the killer in Glass Onion?

In short, the answer of who the killer is in the Knives Out sequel, the answer is none other than Edward Norton's Miles Bron. Why and how Miles Bron is revealed as the killer is a much bigger reveal and requires some context to explain. It is worth noting that the trailer for the film revealing the movie as being framed around a murder happening while a murder mystery party is taking place, and while technically true, there are more layers to the plot. Bron also kills two people in the film, but that largely leads to our next point:

Glass Onion: Ending Explained

First it's worth noting that Janelle Monáe actually plays two characters in the film, twins; Cassandra "Andi" Brand, a former business partner of Bron's, and Helen Brand, a school teacher. Before the main action of the movie has begun there's some backstory we learn about halfway through, that Andi was firmly against a new investment that Bron wanted to roll out: Klear, an alternative fuel source that he saw as a moneymaker and she realized would be a death trap for the world. In a legal battle afterward, Andi was publicly humiliated when Bron (and the rest of the guests at the party in the film) testified against her and gave him credit for their company's many ideas.

Central to all this was a napkin she scribbled on when they would meet at their favorite bar, The Glass Onion, which Bron copied and used in the court case. Andi's original was thought lost, until she recovered it and sent a message to the rest of the characters confirming its existence, which would confirm Bron was a fraud and they all lied. Panicked by this news, Bron drives to Andi's home and kills her, staging her death to appear like a suicide when she would eventually be found days later. He steals the original napkin before he leaves.

Caught up in her grief, Helen, a fellow southerner like Benoit, is attempting to piece together her sister's final moments when the puzzle box invitation for Bron's big party arrives. She goes to Benoit for help and the two hatch a scheme, she will pose as Andi at the party to draw out the murderer and they'll pull some strings to keep her death out of the press. 

While their ruse is maintained for most of the party, the news that Andi has died leaks to the press while they're all still partying together. The first, and seemingly only, to see it however is Dave Bautista's Duke Cody, who shows it to Bron as a leverage attempt to get what he wants. To keep it quiet Bron does some trickery and hands Cody a drink filled with Pineapple juice, triggering his allergy and killing him as well. Bron then attempts to kill Helen, shooting her while the lights are off and leading everyone else to believe that Andi has been killed at the party as well.

To bring it all full circle however, Helen finds the original napkin in Bron's office and reveals her identity to the group, her death prevented by her sister's diary being in her coat pocket. There's one hang up though, there's no actual evidence to prove any of the allegations that she and Benoit have asserted. In an act of defiance and proving her sister right, Helen begins to smash the many glass sculptures in the main room, all of them made from Klear, which results in a huge explosion that destroys Bron's mansion and takes none other than the Mona Lisa along with it. His home in shambles and his name now forever associated with the Mona Lisa for the worst reason, the rest of the group decides to turn on Bron.