Kevin Costner’s The New Daughter’s Ending Explained

The New Daughter ending explained that a race of mysterious beings selected a young girl named Louisa as their new queen. Kevin Costner has appeared in everything from Westerns to post-apocalyptic epics, but he’s not closely tied to the horror genre. That said, he’s made a handful of genre outings, including the forgotten ’80s slasher Shadows Run Black and the underrated serial killer drama Mr. Brooks. Probably his most overt outing in the horror genre to date is 2009’s The New Daughter, where he plays the father of a teenage girl undergoing a terrifying transformation.

In The New Daughter, Costner plays a divorced novelist who moves to a new home with his daughter Louisa (Ivana Baquero) and son Sam. Costner’s John is struggling to deal with the stress of being a sole parent, which isn’t helped when Louisa starts exhibiting odd behavior. This appears to be tied to a huge mound near their house, and John learns the house’s previous owner disappeared years before, and he starts investigating his new home’s dark history. This leads him to discover the mysterious beings known as the “mound-walkers.”

What Happens In The New Daughter Ending

John Fights To Save His Daughter From The Mound-Walkers

In The New Daughter’s ending, things take a terrifying turn when the mound-walkers lay siege to the house. Louisa is fully under the sway of the creatures and seemingly killed Sam’s teacher Cassandra (Samantha Mathis). John kills many of the creatures and descends into the mound with his shotgun to rescue Louisa. He finds her inside and pulls her out as the monsters give chase, but as he plans to burn the mound, he sees his daughter transforming into one of the mound-walkers.

Recalling his promise not to leave his daughter as their mother did, John tearfully tosses a flare at the fuel can, blowing up the mound. This action causes an explosion, but while this almost certainly destroyed the mound-walker nest, it’s unclear whether John or Louisa survived. The New Daughter concludes with a very ambiguous ending, as Sam watches the fire from a distance, and a figure walks towards him. Sam says, “Daddy?” as the figure approaches, but he hears the signature growl of the creatures. A mound-walker appears behind Sam, and The New Daughter cuts to credits.

The Real Meaning Of The New Daughter Ending

John Ensures He Will Never Leave His Daughter

It’s up to viewers to decide what happened, but it does feel unlikely John would knowingly take his own life while Sam was still in danger. There is a chance the figure is really Kevin Costner’s character coming to the rescue, and maybe he can reach his son in time to save him from the mound-walker. However, the problem is that the movie did not show this ending. The New Daughter ending showed John possibly sacrificing himself to save his daughter, proving he will never leave her as her mother did.

This thought process makes the ending both poignant and overly complicated. It is important for John to show he is there for his daughter and will protect her. He will also never leave her and stay with her even as death seems imminent. The problem is that if he proved he would always be there for his daughter and wouldn’t leave her as her mom did, he might have done the exact same thing to his son, Sam. Proving his love for one child and not the other is not likely the ending the filmmakers were looking for.

However, there is also one other deeper meaning. While John said he wouldn’t leave his daughter the way her mother left them, he might have a more selfish motive. John doesn’t want his daughter to leave him. If the changes happening to his daughter represent her growing up and reaching adolescence, the monsters would represent what John sees as the world trying to take his daughter away from him. Killing her to stop her from leaving takes on a more ominous meaning in this case.

How The New Daugther Ending Was Received

Critics & Audiences Blasted The Movie

The New Daughter was not well received by critics or audience members. It has a very low score on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics awarding it a 40% rotten rating and audiences scoring it at an even lower 24%. It was the ending that turned many audience members away. One audience reviewer wrote, “I can’t believe I sat through this sometimes engaging film to be so let down by ultimate evil destroying the protagonists! Don’t we have enough of this in real life right now?”

The ending is also what many critics said ruined the movie. While he said the film was nowhere near as bad as the marketing indicated, Variety film critic Andrew Barker was unimpressed with the ending. He wrote, “Its many cliches begin to undo its spell long before a ridiculous third act squanders all remaining goodwill.” He also counted off for the final shot with the creature behind young Sam, which he referred to as “appalling.”

However, there are other reviewers who see the ending as symbolizing more than just a monster movie. Paul Lê from Bloody Disgusting wrote, “If Costner’s character did in fact go through with the hardest decision a parent can make, perhaps John also chose to perish with the child who already felt abandoned by one parent.” The New Daughter ending represents what the viewer takes out of the movie, rather symbolic or at face value, and its meaning changes based on that criteria.