Amazon’s Hanna Season 1 Ending Explained

Hanna season 1’s ending saw a major character die while setting up season 2. Amazon’s reboot of the 2011 action film directed by Joe Wright (Darkest Hour) stars Esme Creed-Miles as Hanna, Joel Kinnaman as Erik Heller, and Mireille Enos as Marissa Wiegler; they take over the roles made famous by Saoirse Ronan, Eric Bana, and Cate Blanchett.

A high-concept action thriller mixed with a coming-of-age story, Hanna begins with identical beats to the film before branching out in a brand new direction. Hanna was born to be a genetically-enhanced super-soldier but, at the behest of her birth mother Johanna (Joanna Kulig), Erik rescued baby Hanna, though Johanna died in the escape. When Hanna season 1 begins, she and Erik leave the forest, where they lived and trained in secret for 15 years, to enact a plan to find safety from their pursuer, Marissa, who works for the CIA. Gradually, Erik and Hanna learn that the program that created her, Utrax, wasn’t destroyed after Hanna’s birth in 2003 as they previously believed. Instead, the agency rebooted the program, dubbed Utrax Regenesis, which now trains over a dozen super-soldiers born in 2004, all of whom have abilities identical to Hanna’s.

Related: Hanna’s Origins, Abilities, And Skills Explained

Hanna’s search for the truth about her origins led to her splitting from Erik, who kept her in the dark in order to protect her. Hanna was able to live as a semi-normal teenage girl in the UK with Sophie (Rhianne Barreto), whose family she met while they were vacationing in Morocco. Meanwhile, Erik escaped imprisonment by the CIA in Berlin and, when he learned about Utrax Regenesis, he sought to find Hanna before Marissa does. Ultimately, Erik decided that the only way to keep Hanna safe was to destroy Utrax, even though it was essentially a suicide mission…

• This Page: What Happened In Hanna Season 1’s Ending And How Marissa Fits Into It All
• Page 2: Hanna Season 1’s Real Meaning And How It Sets Up Season 2

Hanna Season 1’s Ending: Erik’s Suicide Mission And Hanna’s Plan

After their falling out in the middle of Hanna season 1, Erik was reunited with Hanna when he rescued her from Marissa in London. Back on the run together, Erik finally told Hanna what he learned in Berlin: she born in Utrax and was experimented on with “mutations” to give her “advantages” to create perfect soldiers. What’s more, the CIA continued the program, dubbed Utrax Regenesis, and now there are many other super-soldiers like her. Erik, who was already slowly dying from a gunshot wound in Berlin (that he kept secret from Hanna), hatched a plan to keep Hanna safe: he contacted Emil Prodka, Hanna’s birth father, and arranged to have her stay with him and his family. He was then going to attack Utrax and attempt to destroy the facility – intending it to be a suicide mission.

When Hanna found out Erik’s plan, she sped to his rescue and saved him from an attack by Sawyer and his troops. The next day, Hanna decided that they were going to Utrax but to rescue the other super-soldiers, whom Hanna feels are her sisters. However, Utrax was in lockdown and even though Erik and Hanna broke in, they found the Utrax trainees to be too far gone in their programming; only one, recruit 249, whose real name is Clara (Yasmin Monet Prince), resisted her programming and joined Hanna. Sawyer arrived with soldiers and evacuated the Utrax trainees, along with Dr. Roland Kunek (Noah Taylor), who runs the program. Hanna, Erik, and Clara then fought and killed the soldiers but Erik was too wounded and they were caught dead-to-rights by Sawyer. However, Marissa killed Sawyer and allowed the fugitives to escape.

Erik died from his injuries and Hanna granted his dying wish to be buried in the same gravesite as her mother Johanna, whom Erik loved. Meanwhile, Marissa contacted Norris, who oversaw Utrax from CIA headquarters in Colorado, and reported that Sawyer and Erik were both dead but Hanna escaped. At the conclusion of Hanna season 1, Hanna brought Clara with her to the forest where she grew up, the only place where Hanna feels she’s safe and truly belongs – but now she has a sister and is no longer alone in the world.

Whose Side Was Marissa Wiegler Really On In Hanna Season 1?

Marissa is the most complex and interesting character in Hanna season 1. She began the series as the main villain but evolved as circumstances changed (even though Erik and Hanna saw her as their enemy until the very end and never fully trusted her). In truth, Marissa was haunted by being forced to burn the babies of the original Utrax that Hanna was part of. The fact that Erik and Hanna were in the wind, and then resurfaced, forced Marissa to hunt them down to eliminate the last living proof of Utrax. Marissa did hire mercenaries to hunt Hanna and she was willing to murder when necessary, but Mireille Enos’ version of the character wasn’t as malevolent as Cate Blanchett’s was in the Hanna film.

Although she was willing to do the dirtiest parts of her job, Marissa was trying to have a normal life before Erik and Hanna reemerged; she had a boyfriend in Paris and was attempting to be a stepmother to his young son (who rejected her). But her real enmity wasn’t for Erik, even though he kidnapped her and held her hostage, or even Hanna, who kept evading her; it was for Sawyer. Norris and the CIA sent Sawyer to clean up Marissa’s mess and he not only sandbagged her, he later gave the order to have Marissa executed. However, he underestimated Wiegler’s cunning; she killed her would-be assassins and later captured Sawyer. Finally, Marissa executed Sawyer to help Erik, Hanna, and Clara escape.

Marissa had spent enough time with Hanna to develop empathy for her, and she was furious to find out the CIA restarted Utrax behind her back. In the end, Marissa is only truly on her own side but she cares enough for Hanna to let her live.

Page 2 of 2: Hanna Season 1’s Real Meaning And How It Sets Up Season 2

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