‘The Regime’ Ending Explained: Does Kate Winslet’s Character Come Out on Top?

The Regime Episode 6 “Don’t Yet Rejoice” opens with Herbert Zubak (Matthias Schoenaerts) leading his beloved Chancellor Elena Vernham (Kate Winslet) through desiccated fields, on the run from the rebels who want her dead. It seems that Elena has indeed been deposed, a status she can’t accept, crying, “I cannot just be in a state of being!”

**Spoilers for The Regime Episode 6 “Don’t Yet Rejoice,” now streaming on Max**

Throughout the final episode of HBO‘s Orwellian limited series, the two lovers hide out in one of Elena’s husband’s failed poetry centers, stumble upon a kind loyalist who reveals himself to be an enemy, fall into the hands of warring ministers, and eventually are scooped up by the true powers that be: the global capitalists, as represented by the nation’s wealthiest man, Emil Bartos (Stanley Townsend) and the voice of American diplomat Judith Holt (Martha Plimpton) over speakerphone.

Ultimately, it turns out that the only person who can maintain peace and stability in The Regime’s fictional Middle European country is a puppet figurehead who can grease the wheels of industry for the Western world. A defeated Elena is offered one chance to survive and retake power: become that puppet. There is, of course, one catch. There’s no room in the new order for the charismatic soldier-turned-lover who has existed by her side. After all, he’s staunchly devoted to their “dream” and not the cold capitalistic reality of their situation.

So does Elena order Zubak’s death? What was the whole point of The Regime? And what does it mean that Elena still visits Zubak at the end of The Regime? Here’s what you need to know about the ending of HBO’s The Regime…

The Regime Ending Explained: Does Elena Order Zubak’s Death?

Yes, indeed, Elena decides to go along with murdering Zubak so she can become Chancellor again! (Albeit a Chancellor who now makes proclamations from behind a bulletproof case and defers to the USA for foreign policy and economic strategy.) Zubak, understandably, would not be down for such an about face. His honest devotion to the dream coupled with his instability makes him a liability for Elena’s future as a puppet despot. She visits him one last time at the hotel where both are being held and it feels clear that Zubak knows she has sacrificed him, even if neither say it aloud.

However, just because Zubak is dead, that doesn’t mean that a year later — as Elena is celebrating her 9th Victory Day with her husband (Guillaume Gallienne) by her side — the former Butcher is far from her mind…

What Does it Mean That Elena Is Keeping Zubak’s Corpse in the Palace?

The end of The Regime reveals that Elena now keeps the corpse of Zubak in the same glass coffin her father used to inhabit in the palace’s basement, meaning although he is dead, he still takes up a significant part of her psyche.

“There’s someone down there whom she can visit, much like with her father, where the mask can drop and she can show the real vulnerable person,” The Regime creator and showrunner Will Tracy explained to Decider. “And that person will be less, in some ways, make her feel less insecure than her father’s remains did. But also I would imagine would fill her with a guilt that she can’t acknowledge anywhere else but in that room, right?”

Tracy explained that although Zubak has now been publicly labeled one of the “bad actors” whom “she never should have trusted,” that Elena feels guilt over the situation privately.

“She’s quite happy to throw him under the bus publicly without any guilt, and probably would do so to everyone else she spoke to in the palace,” Tracy said. “But I think down there in that mausoleum, she can be honest with him and with her because they finally truly know each other and understand each other.”

And so life goes on for Elena…so what was the point of The Regime?

What Was the Point of The Regime?

Confused by the ending of The Regime? Bewildered why we wind up basically where we started, with Elena describing the events of the series as a “wobble”? Obviously art is open to interpretation, so you can feel however you like about the HBO show’s bitter conclusion. However, it reminded me of the same way I felt when I finished George Orwell’s Keep the Aspidistra Flying or even 1984. The great satirist created stories that eviscerated capitalism and/or autocracy, only to have his characters succumb to being cogs in those machines by the novel’s end.

For me, the point of The Regime is that even if you have impassioned reformers like Zubak perfectly positioned to make change, the great steamroller of globalism and capitalism is going to win the day. Well, that, and despots are gonna despot.

Will There Be a Second Season of The Regime on HBO and Max?

Probably not! The Regime was not only envisioned as a limited series for HBO, but it also hasn’t really caught on with audiences like, say, Big Little Lies did back in the day. Ratings have been rather low compared to other Sunday night HBO shows.

Even if the story of Elena and Zubak hadn’t already run its course, it doesn’t seem like there’s a public appetite for Season 2. But never say never! And always expect a limited series to come back where there’s a will and a way…