Bodyguard’s Shocking Ending Explained

WARNING: Major spoilers for Bodyguard ahead.

Bodyguard season 1 comes to an end with a nail-bitingly tense finale full of twists and turns. A smash TV hit when it aired over the summer in the UK on BBC, the series has now made its way to Netflix to give the entire world a chance to be stirred by it’s shaking story.

Starring Richard Madden as protection officer David Budd, opposite Keeley Hawes as Home Secretary Julia Montague, Bodyguard has proven to be a huge hit for the BBC, with social media full of questions that we all wanted answers to.

Related: Next James Bond Could Be GoT Star Richard Madden

Thankfully, the finale addressed nearly all of them, though that also meant there was a lot to take in. What exactly happened at the end of Bodyguard, and what’s going to happen next? Allow us to explain.

• This Page: Julia’s Death & Bodyguard’s Real Villains
• Page 2: Bodyguard’s Ending & What’s Next

Julia Montague is Really Dead At The End of Bodyguard

Let’s address the question of Julia’s mortality right off the bat: she really is dead. It would have been pretty hard for anyone to survive a bomb blast like that, especially when they were standing right on top of it, but it was also hard to believe that showrunner Jed Mercurio would kill off one of the main stars halfway through a season run. But he did exactly that, and what’s more, he’s got form for killing off Keeley Hawes; he also killed her character off in Line of Duty.

Mercurio says he did it to alter the dynamic of Bodyguard, which it certainly did. While it was fun to speculate whether she’d make a comeback, it’s actually better that dead means dead.

Who Killed Julia in Bodyguard?

There were many possible suspects in Bodyguard for who planted the bomb that killed Julia, with the Secret Service being the prime suspects. As it turned out, though, it wasn’t the Secret Service, or a Jihadist group, but a criminal gang leader by the name of Luke Aitkens who arranged for the bombing to take place. Julia was working to pass a bill through Parliament called RIPA 18 that, had it gone through, would have seen more power transfer from the police to the Secret Service. It was revealed that Lorraine Craddock (Pippa Haywood), David’s boss in the police, had been Luke Aitkens’ inside informant for years, handing over information on police activity that could threaten his criminal plans. Neither party could afford for Julia’s bill to pass, as the Secret Service would be much harder to penetrate, and Lorraine would no longer have access to such information.

It was Lorraine who told Luke of the plans for Julia’s speech and the security arrangements, enabling him to have the device planted. Tahir Mahmood, whom many suspected of being involved, was entirely innocent; his only job was to deliver an alternative speech to Julia which was full of errors. That was merely a political ploy to make her look incompetent, not to kill her. In her police interview, Lorraine explained that she felt David Budd would make the perfect fall guy.

Nadia Was Not Innocent In Bodyguard

In the Bodyguard, everybody was all fooled by Nadia (Anjli Mohindra), who played the terrified, submissive wife of a terrorist so well. When David carefully approached her on the train and talked her out of detonating her bomb, it appeared that Nadia was genuinely full of remorse and wanting to help the police with their inquiries. However, that was all an elaborate act, and Nadia was, in fact, a skilled engineer who not only built the bomb she was wearing on the train, but also the one that was driven into David’s kids’ school, as well as the one that killed Julia. Though she despised Luke Aitkens, she was happy to supply him with a bomb if it meant more money to help her cause and the murder of innocent westerners.

David’s leading questions proved to be counterproductive to the investigation, since Nadia could tell him all he wanted to hear, including making up the story of her husband meeting Richard Longcross to collect a suicide vest. As for the attack on the school where David’s kids were pupils, that was Nadia’s personal doing, and, it seems, her act of revenge on David for thinking she was a weak woman. When he showed her pictures of his kids as a way of talking her out of the train bombing, she made a point of remembering the logo on their school uniforms, and then tracking them down.

Page 2 of 2: Bodyguard’s Ending & What’s Next

About The Author

Becky Fuller
(870 Articles Published)

Becky has been writing for Screen Rant since 2014. She has a degree in musical theater and performance and thinks that musical soundtracks should form a fundamental part of everyone’s daily existence.
She spends her time at Screen Rant writing about all of the things she loves, mainly Disney, Harry Potter, family movies and of course, anything that might have a little bit of singing in it. She also has a deep affection for Netflix Marvel shows, movies and TV shows that focus on character, and pretty much anything that represents quality British movies or TV programs. Becky thinks that Paddington 2 might well be the best movie ever made.
Becky also works as a theater critic, and divides her time between watching theater, movies, and TV. Sometimes she does other things, like working as a fitness instructor or taking pictures of her cats, and she attempts to raise three children.

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