Inglourious Basterds: What Happened To The Other Basterds

Inglourious Basterds introduced viewers to a group of soldiers whose mission was to kill as many Nazis as they could. Sadly, not all of them made it to the end of the movie, but what happened to the rest? In 2009, after exploring genres like crime, slasher, and even martial arts, Quentin Tarantino decided to tell an alternate version of history in Inglourious Basterds, set during World War II, and with his signature style of narrative and violence.

Inglourious Basterds centers on different subplots with one common goal: kill as many Nazis as possible, including Hitler. In order to achieve this, there were two plans: one by a group known as the “Basterds”, led by Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt), and another by Shosanna Dreyfus/Emmanuelle Mimieux (Mélanie Laurent), a Jewish cinema owner whose family was murdered by SS officer Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz). Ultimately, both plans overlap and manage to achieve the goal of killing Hitler, though he is shot to death by two Basterds – still, they wouldn’t have gotten their chance without Shosanna’s plan. Those two Basterds die during the mission, and another two died in a previous task, so what happened to the rest?

At the beginning of Inglourious Basterds, after the opening scene where Landa killed Shosanna’s family, Aldo Raine is seen talking to the new recruits, but in total, there are 10 members in the Basterds, though not all of them are shown in that scene: Raine, Donny “The Bear Jew” Donowitz, Hugo Stiglitz, Wilhelm Wicki, Smithson “The Little Man” Utivich, Omar Ulmer, Gerold Hirschberg, Andy Kagan, Michael Zimmerman, and Simon Sakowitz. Later on, Lt. Archie Hicox (Michael Fassbender) joins the Basterds for Operation Kino, a British plan to attack the premiere of Joseph Goebbels’ new film, taking place at Shosanna’s cinema. As part of it, Hicox and two Basterds – Wicki and Stiglitz – meet with German film star Bridget von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger) at a tavern, which turns out to be full of Nazi soldiers. Their cover is blown after catching the attention of Gestapo Major Dieter Hellström, and Hicox, Wicki, and Stiglitz die.

Continuing with the plan, Raine, Donowitz, and Ulmer attend the premiere with von Hammersmark, who is killed in a private room by Landa, while Raine is kidnapped and Donowitz and Ulmer carry on with the mission. The latter two are the ones who shoot Hitler, but die when the explosives attached to their ankles go off. Meanwhile, Raine and another kidnapped Basterd, Utivich, reach an agreement with Landa, but Raine ends up getting his revenge by carving a swastika into his forehead. Raine and Utivich are the last Basterds seen in the film, alive and well, but the fate of the others isn’t revealed. In the original script, however, Hirschberg (played by Samm Levine) survived and he, along with other unspecified Basterds, reunited with Raine and Utivich after settling things with Landa.

Some fans believe the Basterds disbanded, either after the deaths of Wicki and Stiglitz or after Raine carved Landa’s forehead, as he went against his boss’ orders. Others, however, believe only Raine and Utivich survived the events of Inglourious Basterds, though when and how it’s unknown, as they weren’t seen after the introduction scene (except for Hirschberg and Kagan, who appear in the scene where von Hammersmark is being interrogated by Raine). In the end, the fate of the rest of the Basterds is open to interpretation: there will be some who will take the original script as the definitive answer, while others will choose to believe that they either died at some point, were sent somewhere else, or that the group disbanded.

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Adrienne Tyler
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Adrienne Tyler is a features writer for Screen Rant. She is an Audiovisual Communication graduate who wanted to be a filmmaker, but life had other plans (and it turned out great). Prior to Screen Rant, she wrote for Pop Wrapped, 4 Your Excitement (4YE), and D20Crit, where she was also a regular guest at Netfreaks podcast. She was also a contributor for FanSided’s BamSmackPow and 1428 Elm. Adrienne is very into films and she enjoys a bit of everything: from superhero films to heartbreaking dramas, to low-budget horror films. Every time she manages to commit to a TV show without getting bored, an angel gets its wings.

When she’s not writing, you can find her trying to learn a new language, watching hockey (go Avs!), or wondering what life would have been like had Pushing Daisies, Firefly, and Limitless not been cancelled. Breakfast food is life and coffee is what makes the world go round.

Guillermo del Toro said “hi” to her once. It was great.

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