Don’t Worry Darling’s Victory Project Fully Explained

Warning: This post contains SPOILERS for Don’t Worry Darling!

Olivia Wilde’s movie Don’t Worry Darling revolves around the mysterious Victory Project, which is not anything close to what it seems. Following the breakout success of her first directorial effort Booksmart, all eyes turned to what Wilde’s second movie would be. Don’t Worry Darling is an original psychological thriller developed by Wilde and writer Katie Silberman. It stars Florence Pugh as Alice Chambers, a 1950s housewife living in a closed community who lovingly serves her husband, Jack (Eternals‘ Harry Styles). Despite the seemingly perfect setting for their lives, Don’t Worry Darling‘s Victory Project holds many secrets and twists.

Victory Project is the mysterious goal that all the men in the desert town work to help create. While the women live normal lives, including lying by the pool, cleaning, cooking, and more, the men travel beyond the city limits to work and cannot divulge details about what Victory Project is. However, Alice begins to question what is really going on in this town and with the project after witnessing the apparent death of a neighbor. She quickly begins to piece together that there are several oddities involved with Don’t Worry Darling‘s Victory Project, such as the participants all had one of three origin stories. At this time, Florence Pugh’s character also begins having possible hallucinations, which creates concern about her mental well-being.

As Don’t Worry Darling‘s ending unfolds, viewers learn the truth about Victory Project, the group’s charming but scheming leader Frank (Chris Pine), and Alice’s hallucinations and dreams. Through Florence Pugh’s character uncovering the truth and her journey, Olivia Wilde’s movie unmasks what is going on with the Victory Project. This includes several big reveals as the story comes to a close and explains Don’t Worry Darling‘s Victory Project.

What Don’t Worry Darling’s Victory Project Really Is

The movie reveals that the 1950s setting of Don’t Worry Darling is all fake, as the Victory Project is some sort of artificial world and shared experience. The setting for one of 2022’s biggest fall movies is a creation of Chris Pine’s character in the real world as a means to escape reality, giving people the chance to live happier lives where they are in control. The antagonist preys on men who are unhappy with their normal lives and want an opportunity to be the ultimate provider for their wives. Chris Pine’s villain uses a podcast to recruit new members to his cult and join the artificial world. All the participants are somehow linked to one reality, even though only couples are in the same physical space in the real world. In the artificial reality, the Victory Project is merely a cover-up for Harry Styles, Chris Pine, and other men to have a mysterious job, so the women have an understanding not to ask about their work or their new lives.

Alice’s dreams and hallucinations are seemingly the results of questioning the authenticity of her reality. While she lives in a 1950s setting where she gets to have a simple life as a housewife, the truth is that Florence Pugh’s character is strapped to a bed with special devices attached around her eyes. The technology keeps participants’ eyes open at all times, allowing lasers to scan them continually. It is unclear exactly how Don’t Worry Darling‘s Victory Project can pull so many people into a shared realistic reality, but it could be an incredibly advanced form of virtual reality, like a variation of Matrix‘s human pods. That would make each person in the Victory Project an avatar for a real person, indicating that everyone can control their actions through thoughts alone.

Everyone Who Knows The Truth About Victory Project

The truth about Victory Project and its artificial build is a dark secret in Don’t Worry Darling. All the men participants are aware of the truth, as they are the ones who go through the initial process of recruitment. Despite Chris Pine’s character spreading the word about Victory Project in real life, it does not seem that it is a widely known service. There is also no question that it is pretty illegal because it secretly imprisons the women in real life to this reality against their will. Joining the program appears to include inhibiting the memories of the women, as they have no knowledge of the truth and the issues with Don’t Worry Darling‘s world. Meanwhile, the men are all fully aware of the fake reality they are living in.

However, Don’t Worry Darling shows that some women also know or learn the truth about Victory Project. Florence Pugh’s Alice comes to understand the truth, while her neighbor Margaret (KiKi Layne) dies after seemingly learning the truth and being told she was delusional. Frank’s wife Shelley (Gemma Chan) is the only woman in Don’t Worry Darling who seems to have known the truth about Victory Project from the beginning. Alice’s best friend Bunny (Olivia Wilde) seemingly knew about the fake reality for a long time, but she has accepted the truth because it gives her a chance to live in a world where her kids are still alive.

How People Enter & Leave The Victory Project Reality

Entering and leaving the Victory Project reality in Don’t Worry Darling is simple. The movie only shows someone entering the system once, thanks to Harry Styles’ character. He begins by putting on the eye devices and lying on a bed. By staring at the looped video above and listening to Chris Pine’s character’s words, it seems that the Victory Project hypnotizes people to fall into a trans. This seemingly allows the eye devices to go into effect and make the people believe they are in the 1950s setting. The entrance and exit spot is known as Headquarters, a small circular structure at the top of a mountain in the middle of the desert. Whenever someone needs to exit the Victory Project’s reality, all they need to do is go back to Headquarters and touch the mirror windows.

Why Only The Guys Can Leave Victory Project’s Town

Leaving the Victory Project town is forbidden for its women residents, but the men drive off into the desert daily to work. The guys can go because they are the only ones who know the truth about the 2022 movie’s big twist ending. There is also the responsibility they have to now care for their wives in real life. The men must leave the reality to tend to their wives and make sure their real bodies are still getting enough nutrients to survive. This is just part of the work the men have to do to continue participating in the Victory Project, as they also have to keep making money in the real world to pay Chris Pine’s character for the ongoing use of his unique service.

Don’t Worry Darling’s Victory Project Phase 2 Explained

There is also a tease in Don’t Worry Darling that Frank has plans to expand, as there are multiple teases of Victory Project Phase 2. Viewers will see a billboard promoting that Phase 2 (not MCU related) is coming soon. One of Alice’s neighbors remarks that she heard that more houses are being built in the neighborhood, which is the key to Frank’s plans for the future. Don’t Worry Darling does not get into specifics of why Chris Pine’s character wants to keep building, but it would seem that the most straightforward explanation is that it means room for more recruits, which should give him more money and power. The difficulty with the expansion is that it creates more room for error and trouble to arise. Since Frank dies in the end, it is unclear if Phase 2 will still happen, as his wife Shelley might have a new vision for Victory Project’s future.

How Victory Project Kills Men In Real Life Too

Don’t Worry Darling‘s Victory Project might seem like a 1950s utopia where everyone is safe, but the movie confirms that any man who dies while in the reality also dies in real life, like in The Matrix. The distinction indicates that the same is not true for women, although the movie does not confirm that. There is no direct explanation for how the Victory Project can kill men in real life after they die in the fake reality, but there are clues. The movie shows that Harry Styles’ character dies in real life after Alice kills him inside the Victory Project reality. Don’t Worry Darling teased that gaining access to the project is a complicated process and that more responsibility is put on the men’s shoulders. That could include having a special implant or an extra device that the women do not have that allows the people running Victory Project to kill the men for whatever reason.