‘I Am Not Okay With This’s Creator Explains the Meaning Behind that Cliffhanger Ending

Netflix’s I Am Not Okay With This ends precisely where it begins: with Sophia Lillis‘s Sydney Novak covered in blood. However, the show’s gory twist and wild cliffhanger ending push I Am Not Okay With This far away from its source material. So what does the I Am Not Okay With This ending mean?

I AM NOT OKAY WITH THIS SPOILERS AHEAD

Netflix’s I Am Not Okay With This is based on the Chuck Forsman graphic novel of the same name, but the show ends quite a bit differently than Forsman’s comic. Although Sydney also uses her powers to kill her best friend Dina’s (Sofia Bryant) boyfriend, Brad (Richard Ellis), in the graphic novel, it plays out quite a bit differently there. Namely, his death looks more like a sudden brain aneurysm, and not a super gory nightmare.

Secondly, the original I Am Not Okay With This ends with a depressed Sydney escaping to the fire watchtower to ultimately commit suicide. However, the Netflix series dodges this dark ending with a surprise: the shadowy figure who has been stalking Sydney finally reveals himself. He tells Sydney that she shouldn’t be afraid of him, but “they should be afraid.” The final line of the season? This mystery man saying, “Let’s begin.”

So who is the man talking to Sydney in the end? Is it her father? What does this mystery man want with Sydney? Why did Brad die from an exploding head? And what might happen to Sydney and her current “Professor X,” Stanley (Wyatt Oleff) in I Am Not Okay With This Season 2? Decider spoke to I Am Not Okay With This‘s creator and director Jonathan Entwistle for answers.

Is Sydney’s Father Really Dead in I Am Not Okay With This? Is That Syd’s Dad in the End of I Am Not Okay With This?

Although the only other super-powered person we know about in I Am Not Okay With This was Sydney’s father, the smokey dude stalking Sydney throughout the series doesn’t appear to be Syd’s father. Not only is Sydney’s father dead, but when the mysterious figure solidifies on the fire watchtower, Sydney doesn’t seem to recognize him. Entwistle all but confirmed this when Decider asked him to tease what he could about the character’s identity.

Who is the Smoke Man Following Sydney in I Am Not Okay With This? Who Says “Let’s Begin’ at the End of I Am Not Okay With This?

We still don’t know! And Entwistle says that’s the point!

“The questions I want people to ask are who has come to town? Is it going to be the mentor ‘Professor X’ or is it going to be the Sith Lord come to take Syd to the Dark Side?” Entwistle said.

“I think when you’ve got the type of powers that she’s got you can become an asset in a bigger world that’s been brewing outside of the tiny town where we started the story,” he said. “So I’d like it to immediately off the bat to be a hint that whoa there’s a bigger world out there than just one girl with crazy powers.”

Entwistle also teased that this new figure in Sydney’s life could cause some friction between her and her current “mentor” Stanley.

“Stan has no powers, so if somebody with cool powers steps in and starts saying things to Sydney then that’s going to then kind of hurt his ego a little bit,” Entwistle said. “And I think he’s a character that likes to be wanted and so I think that is something interesting for him in the world to deal with.”

Why Did I Am Not Okay With This Change Brad’s Death from the Book? Why Does Brad’s Head Explode in the End of I Am Not Okay With This?

Okay, let’s get this straight: in both the graphic novel and the show, Sydney kills Brad at the end of I Am Not Okay With This. However, the show ups the ante on the drama by placing the murder at a high school dance and having the jock’s head literally explode. So what gives?

“What we wanted to do was kind of pay homage to the book and the way the book itself is a pastiche to those John Carpenter ’80s movies. The head exploding that’s in the book is a kind of homage to the whole Scanners thing,” Entwistle said.

He added, “I wanted to do something that, that can really show the ramifications of not being able to control something. I think that is one of the key elements of something that Sydney needs to learn, and is learning, and is also part of the allegory of growing up, you know. To control the urges you have as a teenager is kind of what makes you an adult. And now you see the ramifications are quite huge for Sydney within the world.”

Yeah, Sydney’s powers are now literally mind-blowing.

Watch I Am Not Okay With This on Netflix