Interceptor ending explained: Delving into Netflix's new action movie

Interceptor ending spoilers follow.

Netflix's latest original action movie Interceptor sees a group of terrorists attempt to "erase" the US with 16 nuclear missiles.

As is ever the case, there's one person standing in their way: Captain JJ Collins (Elsa Pataky). When the interceptor base she's just transferred back to comes under threat, she needs to fight back to retain control of the base until help arrives.

So begins a non-stop battle between Collins and the terrorists, led by former US intelligence officer Alexander Kessel (Luke Bracey). You might know exactly how it ends, but we wouldn't blame you for being a bit confused why it's all happening.

We're here to help as we delve into Interceptor's ending to explain what the terrorists want and whether Collins saves the day. Major spoilers ahead if you haven't seen the movie yet.

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Interceptor ending explained

Shortly after Fort Greely (the US's only other interceptor base) is overrun and 16 nuclear missiles are stolen from a base in Tavlinka, Kessel launches his attack on the seaborne interceptor base SBX-1 and manages to kill pretty much everybody on board.

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He needs to destroy SBX-1's capability to launch interceptor missiles as that would stop any nuclear missile launched at the US. Kessel didn't count on Collins, who manages to lock him out of the command centre and nothing seems to sway her to change her mind – not even the offer of $30 million.

Kessel thinks he can use the fact that Collins became a pariah in the army after exposing a three-star general who tried to force her to have sex. It doesn't work, but unfortunately for Collins, Kessel has an inside man – Beaver Baker (Aaron Glenane) – who is in the control centre with her.

Baker shoots both Collins and Corporal Rahul Shah (Mayen Mehta) and lets Kessel and his team into the command centre. They're both fine though as they were wearing armour and, for some reason, Baker only shot them in the chest.

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Kessel uses the Emergency Broadcast System to send a message to the entire country where, handily, he spells out his entire reasoning. He's the son of a trust-fund billionaire who is the US ambassador to the UN, despite being "utterly unqualified", and Kessel just isn't impressed with the current state of the US.

"America is the greatest lie ever told," he explains, saying that the "national lie" that all men are created equal is a fatal "festering wound". So, naturally, the only option is to destroy the US with 16 nuclear missiles and to prove he's serious, he gets a missile fired at Los Angeles.

There are 12 minutes for the interceptor missile to be fired and, wouldn't you know it, Collins breaks free, locks out Kessel and Baker of the command centre, kills the rest of his team and fires the interceptor missile to save the day.

Of course, there are still 15 missiles to go and so begins another battle of wills. Kessel threatens to kill Collins's father, who he's had kidnapped from his retirement home in the US, but her father tells Collins to "never stop fighting". She doesn't and Kessel has him killed now he's of no use.

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Kessel activates SBX-1's emergency sinking protocol, meaning the base will be useless to stop the nuclear missiles anyway. After her earlier exploits, Collins basically only has one arm to use, so Shah volunteers to go and close the valves underneath to delay the sinking long enough for the SEAL Team to arrive in 25 minutes.

He does so, but Baker follows him there and kills him after insisting he's not a murderer, he's "a f**king patriot". Kessel is peddling a similar line to Collins, saying he's only doing this because he wants to make sure "What happened to you doesn't happen to other women" because he's, you know, a feminist and a nice guy.

Collins calls his bluff, though, as she works out from an earlier code he said over the phone that he has paid a Russian sub to take him away. He's being paid for the job, so Kessel is really only in it for the money, despite what he spouted to the nation earlier about wanting a better America.

She now knows that his weakness is that he wants to survive this, so she sets an audacious plan in motion. Collins lets them into the command centre while she hides (in a Hazmat suit, naturally), leading to Kessel firing the other 15 missiles and backs herself to take back control in time to stop them.

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Collins forgot about the acid the terrorists brought on board to destroy the hardware though, which Kessel uses to stop her being able to launch them. Luckily, Baker was boasting earlier about his powerful gaming laptop, so she takes that and uses it to set up the launch program.

She has one final battle with Baker which ends in her decapitating him with razor wire, and just about manages to make it back to the laptop to launch the interceptor missiles with less than a second to go. They successfully destroy all of the nuclear missiles headed towards the US.

Kessel is naturally a little bit annoyed by this turn of events, but taunts that he brought the US "to the brink, and I'll do it again". The Russian sub arrives and Kessel assumes it'll take him away, but it seems they weren't keen on his plan either and the commander orders one of his men to shoot and kill Kessel.

The SEAL Team finally arrive to take Collins to safety before SBX-1 fully sinks, and the final scene sees Collins recovering in hospital. The President visits and assigns Collins to her national security staff, while it's also revealed that Collins's father is actually alive as his old army buddies killed Kessel's hitmen before they could kill him.

Happy days.

Interceptor is available to watch now on Netflix.

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Ian Sandwell

Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.