'The Silent Planet' Movie Ending Explained & Full Story: Is Niyya Dead Or Alive?

The premise of the Canadian sci-fi drama, The Silent Planet, is itself promising enough to hook in seasoned fans of the genre. A distant lifeless planet, two prisoners burdened with emotional turmoil, and rising tension as their hidden secrets and insecurities start to surface, which muddles the distinction between reality and fantasy—seems to be a sure-shot recipe for success. The Silent Planet goes a step further by adding solid acting talents, Elias Koteas and Briana Middleton, as the leads, creating a believable futuristic world with convincing production design that defies budget constraints, and using sci-fi elements to enhance the narrative in the best way possible. The Silent Planet is an inventive, thought-provoking experience that stays with viewers long after the movie has ended.

Spoilers Ahead

The World In The Film

In The Silent Planet, in the distant future, human civilization has made advancements in spacefaring endeavors thanks to progress in the technological and scientific spheres, building colonies across the galaxy to be used for various purposes. Humanity has also established a connection with alien life forms, especially with the Oieans—an alien species that has lost their home planet and sought refuge on Earth. Pacifist in nature, the Oieans only want to co-exist in peace, but the ever-hatemongering humankind sees the alien species as a threat who will end up becoming the dominant species on the planet in the future. As a result, several Western governments have adopted anti-Oiean agendas, killing and exterminating their kind. The human-Oiean relations in the movie act as a strong critique of the real-world immigrant situation in first-world countries.

Theodore’s Life On the Penal Planet

The narrative focus shifts to Theodore, a former school teacher who has been exiled to an unnamed distant penal colony in the Capillari star system and has to spend the rest of his life there, all alone, in servitude—mining a unique mineral all day long. In general, criminals who have committed treason, murder, or terrorism are sent into solitary exile on distant planets like these, and initially, it remains unknown as to exactly why Theodore has received this fate. It is not exactly revealed how long Theodore has been entrapped in such a lonesome existence, but given his dwindling state of mind, it can be assumed that he has been held captive for a long time. Without a soul to share his burdens with, the only company Theodore has is his thoughts—and the different ways to project them. There is a generative AI TV system that allows users to customize TV programs according to their needs and thought processes, which Theodore uses to create a romantic soap opera featuring a younger version of himself and his wife Mona, who used to be a schoolteacher as well, as the leads. Theodore misses his dear wife very much, but at the same time, he is aware of the sordid reality that he will not be reunited with her ever again. The planet is not completely lifeless, though; there is an ominous, living cloud of gas that occasionally moves across the nearby areas—it can read human thoughts and project them through voices. Theodore remains extremely wary of its presence, as any possible secret or dark thoughts playing in his mind can be exposed to the gas cloud, which will torment him by playing back those thoughts forever. It is also revealed that Theodore is suffering from a terminal illness of some sort and doesn’t have much time on his hands. Having had just enough of this miserable life where his freedom has been restricted by machinery that dictates his daily routine, he takes out the biomonitor grafted into his body and buries it. As a result, the authorities consider him to be dead and send a new prisoner to take his place. 

Why Was Niyya Sent to Exile?

Niyya, the new prisoner in her mid-twenties, figures out pretty easily that the former prisoner is still alive and plans to kill him for her own safety—which is overheard by Theodore. Both of them anticipate the first strike coming from the other side, and one night Theodore sneaks into Niyya’s space pod in the dead of night—but instead of taking her life, he takes her journal with him. Niyya, who was awake at the moment, doesn’t quite realize why she was spared by him. She goes to Theodore’s space pod the next day and takes her journal back with her and shows gratitude by sparing his life in the process, despite having him at her mercy. It should be mentioned that Janie, the AI assistant Niyya has been sent with, cannot disclose any information about Theodore as per the authorites’ policy. On the other hand, Theodore, finally having human company, tries to befriend Niyya—who remains distant all the while. Through the course of the movie, and from Niyya’s own statements, her past is revealed to the viewers.

Niyya is half human, half Oiean by origin, and had spent a part of her formative years with her Oiean mother in their settlement near the Black Sea. Niyya lost her mother and the rest of the members of her Oiean community in a violent attack orchestrated by humans, an incident that caused her to harbor deep-seated hatred for humanity. Niyya shared a strong bond with her mother, whose final moments were spent in comforting her daughter. A grown-up Niyya planned to assassinate the President of the United States, who is directly responsible for the harrowing mistreatment of the Oieans. However, one of her trusted accomplices, Alana, with whom Niyya had fallen in love, betrayed her—which is highlighted in the opening sequence of the movie. As a result, Niyya was detained and sent to this particular planet to spend the rest of her life in servitude. Given how much she has been let down by humanity in different phases of her life, it is understandable as to why Niyya initially refuses to associate herself with Theodore. However, later on she decides to accept his invitation for dinner and goes to his space pod.

Why Did Niyya Turn Against Theodore?

As Niyya shares her past with Theodore during their conversation, Theodore uses a few Oiean phrases to make her feel comfortable. After all, she had to witness the horrors of being persecuted by humanity, and having someone who speaks her first language by her side might have made her feel a bit at ease. However, Theodore’s frail mind is unable to recall how he’d learned Oiean in the first place. As Niyya wants to learn about his past, Theodore reveals his connection with his wife, Mona, and that he was framed for the murder of his wife’s colleague, which landed him on this godforsaken planet. Speaking with a human for the first time in ages, Theodore begins to remember a few things about his murky past—fleeting memories about visiting the Black Sea and of his forgotten pet dog come back to him.

However, things go a bit awry when Theodore goes outside and gets attacked by the alien gas cloud—resulting in him acting all frenzied after returning to his space pod. Theodore begins to unravel, doubting his own identity, as he puts forward the possibility that, living alone with his thoughts, he might have conjured up a new reality for himself. Niyya somehow helps him to control his mind, and the duo watches the generative AI TV show for a while before Niyya prepares to leave. Right at the moment, Theodore reveals that he remembers his real name to be Nathan Flanagan—a revelation that sends literal shockwaves through Niyya’s mind as she returns to her space pod. Niyya questions her AI assistant about the true identity of Theodore, whether he is indeed Corporal Nathan Flanagan, who was responsible for extermination of her Oiean community, killing her mother. However, the AI assistant isn’t able to disclose any intel in that regard, and Niyya considers that it is a cruel ploy on the authorities’ part to send her to a hellhole to live with the person she detests the most. She also speculates that Theodore learned Oiean speech during his army days to infiltrate their ranks as part of his mission. To pry out the truth, Niyya invites Theodore to her space pod for dinner and begins interrogating him. Niyya’s aggrieved state of mind takes over her reasoning capabilities, as she accuses Theodore of murdering her family and even insinuates that he killed his wife’s friend, suspecting an affair between them, and created a false memory to cope with the truth. Theodore appears increasingly perplexed and defensive as Niyya almost forces him to accept the allegations, and rushes out of her space pod. Right at the moment, the alien gas cloud arrives right out of Niyya’s space pod, and as Niyya steps into it, she learns the dark thoughts, which she considers to be a reflection of Theodore’s deep-seated hatred for the Oieans.

What Was The Truth About Theodore?

In reality, Theodore had caught his wife, Mona, cheating behind his back with her colleague, and in a fit of rage, had ended up murdering her. During his exile in this penal colony, caught up with the fantasy he was able to conjure with the generative AI TV system, Theodore had effectively forgotten the agony, the guilt of taking the life of the person he loved. But after Niyya’s excruciating interrogation, his frail make-believe reality starts falling apart—which prompts Theodore’s mind to consider killing Niyya. As he attacks Niyya, a chase ensues, and both of them arrive at a dilapidated space pod that belonged to a former prisoner who hanged himself after being unable to cope with the loneliness and insanity. Niyya manages to disarm Theodore and beat him half to death while trying to make him confess to his sins. Theodore confesses to killing Mona, as the traumatic memories of the incident come back to him—in a battered, bloodied state he cannot recall ever being responsible for killing Niyya’s mother or the members of her Oiean community. Niyya leaves a collapsed Theodore at the space pod, and after taking a look at the interior, she is hit with a realization that shocks her to the core. The former prisoner, who took his own life, had the exact same dark thoughts that the alien gas cloud played in Niyya’s mind, as it was written all over the walls. Which means the gas cloud had extracted the thoughts of the said prisoner, and Niyya was suspecting and beating up a man who already had a foot in the grave, for apparently no reason at all. The next day, she brings Theodore back to his pod.

What Happened To Niyya At The End?

Niyya confirms her suspicion after going through her own journal, where she had mentioned the name Nathan Flanagan repeatedly, as she had a vendetta against him for what he did to her family. Which means Theodore learned the name from her journal in the first place, and affected by the constant torment of the gas cloud, his weak mind mistakenly considered himself to be that person. Niyya is overwhelmed with guilt by considering that she too acted hatefully, pettily, and vengefully like the humans who took away everything from her. She feels she has betrayed her mother’s trust, and the gas cloud once again arrives to hover around her space pod—playing her thoughts over and over. 

A guilt-ridden Niyya returns to Theodore, who reveals that he learned Oiean speech from his Oiean neighbor, Eeyomb, which further solidifies how a gross misunderstanding wrecked everything between him and Niyya. Theodore believes he deserved such a fate for taking Mona’s life, as he recalls his wife saying that the mind has a strange way of confronting us with our sins. Niyya confesses that even though Theodore considers her innocent for not actually committing the assassination, she is as much guilty as she would have killed the president had Alana not betrayed her. Theodore believes she won’t have done so, as she spared Theodore’s life during their first interaction despite having every chance of killing him. This brings back memories of Niyya’s mother, who believed, in the long run, people cannot deny their true nature. Deep down, Niyya was not as crooked as she thought herself to be.

In The Silent Planet’s ending, as his last act of kindness, Theodore offers Niyya an escape from servitude as he offers to implant her biomonitor inside his body. In that way, when Theodore finally meets his end, the authorities will consider Niyya to have passed away instead, and she will be free to roam this planet without being constrained to an authority-dictated life. Theodore finally succumbs to his injuries and gives Niyya a chance to live her life in freedom—away from humanity and the drudgeries of earth. Although in the final moments of the movie, as Niyya climbs atop a hill, it remains unknown whether she is still on the planet or back on Earth. The planet’s atmosphere was not breathable for humans, nor for human-Oiean people like Niyya either. But in the final moments, Niyya is seen breathing without her protective mask, which might indicate she is willing to end her misery on this planet—or perhaps found a way to adapt to the atmosphere itself. 

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