The Descent 2: Ending & Sarah’s Fate Explained

The Descent Part 2 is a very thrilling follow-up to the phenomenal horror film, but this sequel is full of curveballs and a conclusion that raises many questions. The Descent 2 was directed by Jon Harris, who is mostly known as a film editor on similar works like 127 Hours. The Descent, on the other hand, was helmed by director Neil Marshall. Marshall is responsible for other films like Dog Soldiers and even directed a few episodes of Game of Thrones. The Descent franchise focuses on the claustrophobia horror trope with the added element of pitting friends against one another for survival purposes. So, what happens during The Descent 2‘s ending, and what’s Sarah’s ultimate fate?

The first The Descent movie throws a team of female friends into a spelunking expedition that turns into a fight for survival after a species of subterranean monsters called Crawlers are discovered in the caves. In the meantime, the women end up fighting for their lives while fighting with each other. It all comes to a head when Sarah realizes that her friend Juno had an affair with her deceased husband before his tragic passing. The Descent‘s ending sees most of these friends meeting grisly ends by these crawlers, but Sarah survives the traumatic event.

The Descent 2‘s ending is much more ambiguous than its predecessor. The film sends a rattled Sarah and a rescue team back into these evil caves to find out if any of Sarah’s group are still alive down there. It’s not long until Sarah’s repressed memories rush back and they’re confronted by the deadly crawlers. The Descent Part 2 creates scares in a way that makes clever use of space and uses this claustrophobic environment in new ways. It’s an exciting sequel that sets up The Descent 3; but The Descent 2‘s ending throws a lot in the air, and much like when in a subterranean labyrinth, it can be easy to get lost.

What Happens At The End Of The Descent 2

The Descent 2‘s ending isn’t a happy one. Now that Detective Vaines and Cath are both Crawler food, Rios (Krysten Cummings), Juno (Natalie Mendoza), and Sarah (Shauna Macdonald) try their hardest to find an exit. Unfortunately, the exit is blocked by a hoard of Crawlers and their assumed leader, who is the biggest out of the bunch. Greg is slowly dying nearby after sacrificing himself for Cath (Anna Skellern) and he spots the three remaining survivors. While Sarah, Juno, and Rios attempt to sneak around him, he grabs onto Juno’s leg in a last-ditch effort to save himself. Juno lets out a scream, attracting the Crawlers to the group immediately. The women manage to fight off the Crawlers but at this point, Greg (Josh Dallas of Thor fame) is completely gone and Juno is facing off the leader alone. Sarah tries and fails to save her, and Juno is fatally slashed in the stomach by the leader. The Descent 2‘s Sarah is able to kill the leader and then attracts the rest of the Crawlers to her so Rios can escape. Rios does manage to leave the cave, but she’s thrown back in by Ed and wakes up with a Crawler standing over her.

What Happens To Sarah In The Descent 2’s Ending

The Descent 2‘s Sarah overcomes so much to survive in Neil Marshall’s original Descent, so it’s especially tragic to see her get so close to death in this sequel. Sarah is the most experienced against the crawler threat, but she also has a strong sense of honor and family, which eventually gets the better of her here unlike in The Descent‘s ending. After Juno’s death, Sarah makes a noble gesture by attracting the crawlers’ attention for long enough to secure safety for Rios. It’s certainly implied that Sarah, as well as Rios for that matter, don’t survive this adventure. However, Sarah’s death isn’t explicitly shown; this somewhat open conclusion was likely done intentionally with the hopes of making a third installment of The Descent a possibility. The Descent 2‘s Sarah is a real warrior, but since The Descent 3 hasn’t happened, she’s probably a goner.

Sarah’s Rescue Team Ultimately Fails

Before The Descent 2‘s ending, the rescue mission to find Sarah’s friends turns sour very quickly, and Dan and Cath, two of the trained spelunkers who have been assembled for the mission are the first to meet their ends by the crawlers. Sheriff Vaines, who believes that Sarah killed her friends in the first place, is handcuffed to Sarah so she won’t abandon him; but after he becomes literal baggage, his hand gets cut off so that he and some crawlers will fall to their deaths but Sarah can survive. Sarah, Juno, and Rios reach the exit of these caves in The Descent 2‘s ending but it’s blocked off by a group of crawlers. Their cover gets blown after Juno screams in fear when a dying Greg grabs at her in an effort to save himself. Greg is taken out by the crawlers, but the girls are left to fight off these monsters.

Unfortunately, Sarah is unable to save Juno, who ends up being fatally sliced open by the main crawler. Sarah tries to draw the rest of the crawlers’ attention to herself so at least Rios can escape. Sadly, in the final moments of the horror movie, Ed Oswald, the mineshaft’s operator, catches Rios and throws her back into the mine. While Rios’ execution doesn’t explicitly happen, the first thing that she witnesses after she regains consciousness is an angry crawler. The Descent 2‘s ending shows that the rescue team clearly failed in their mission, and everyone is presumed dead.

Ed Feeding The Crawlers Explained

One of the more harrowing aspects of The Descent 2‘s ending is when Ed decides to throw Rios back into the caves where the Crawlers live — just after she made it through all of that to get to safety. The final gut-punching twist is confusing, to say the least, but it leaves possibilities open for a sequel which was probably the intention behind this act. Ed Oswald (Michael J. Reynolds) only appears in The Descent 2 to lead the rescue team down to the caves via a mine shaft. Based on his actions in the claustrophobic horror movie, it’s clear that he knows what exactly is hiding down there. He probably decided to feed Rios to the Crawlers in an effort to keep them happy and away from the light in general, or perhaps there was something even more sinister behind his actions. Either way, audiences won’t find out as The Descent 3 isn’t in the works any time soon.

The Real Meaning Of The Descent 2’s Ending

The Descent 2‘s ending goes out on a real gut-punch of a conclusion where a happy ending is quickly snatched away from the characters and the audience. It’s revealed that Ed Oswald is much more than a creepy old man, but actually functions as an aid to the crawlers. Great horror movie endings are rarely happy, and The Descent 2 is no different. Oswald tries to feed Rios to the creatures in The Descent 2‘s ending, which implies some level of ownership here. Oswald has a connection to these monsters and cares more about their survival than the rescue team. In fact, his entire effort to help the team out with access to his mineshaft is more than likely all a scheme to get his creatures fed. He never wanted to help Sarah and company in The Descent Part 2.

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