&34;You always know what you needed to know after you needed to know it,&34; director Jay Roach tells EW. The Roses ending explained: What happens to Theo and I

"You always know what you needed to know after you needed to know it," director Jay Roach tells EW.

The Roses ending explained: What happens to Theo and Ivy (and their kids)?

"You always know what you needed to know after you needed to know it," director Jay Roach tells EW.

By Maureen Lee Lenker

Maureen Lee Lenker

Maureen Lee Lenker is a senior writer at ** with over seven years of experience in the entertainment industry. An award-winning journalist, she's written for Turner Classic Movies, *Ms. Magazine*, *The Hollywood Reporter*, and more. She's worked at EW for six years covering film, TV, theater, music, and books. The author of EW's quarterly romance review column, "Hot Stuff," Maureen holds Master's degrees from both the University of Southern California and the University of Oxford. Her debut novel, *It Happened One Fight*, is now available. Follow her for all things related to classic Hollywood, musicals, the romance genre, and Bruce Springsteen.

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August 29, 2025 2:00 p.m. ET

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Benedict Cumberbatch in 'The Roses'. Credit:

Jaap Buitendijk/Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures

- *The Roses, *a reimagining of 1989's *The War of the Roses, *is now in theaters.

- The film, which pits married couple Ivy and Theo Rose against each other, ends on a rather unambiguous note.

- The creative team and stars take a stab at answering some of the lingering questions that remain after the credits roll.

**Warning: This story contains spoilers about *The Roses.***

*The Roses *ends with a bang.

Quite literally. At the climax of the film, now in theaters, Theo (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Ivy Rose (Olivia Colman) finally have the knockdown, drag-out fight they've been itching for throughout the film. After a series of escalating incidents (Ivy throws live crabs in Theo's bath, Theo locks Ivy in a room where he's blasting polka music at full volume), the two have their reckoning.

Theo poisons Ivy with raspberries, which she has a deadly allergy to, before they begin to hurl insults and objects at each other, throwing oranges, smashing their authentic Julia Child stove with heavy objects (this comes into play later!), and facing off with 15th-century daggers hanging on the walls of their home.

Olivia Colman in 'The Roses'.

Jaap Buitendijk/Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures

**But as their fight reaches the bedroom, they confess that they've never stopped loving each other. They admit that they don't think they could live without each other. And yet, they worry they can never find the words they need to fix what has gone so terribly wrong in their marriage.

As they kiss and make up, playing their song and beginning to seduce each other, broken pipes on that Julia Child stove are leaking gas ... and with a booming sound, the film fades to white.

It's pretty obvious that Theo and Ivy die in an explosion, but the fadeout leaves just the tiniest possibility that they might survive. "I love that there is even room for a little discussion about that," director Jay Roach tells **, with a laugh.

Adam Samberg and Benedict Cumberbatch in 'The Roses'.

Jaap Buitendijk/Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures

Though their fate seems clear, other questions remain. Namely: What is going to happen to their children, who are at an athletic private school in Miami? And, would the truce they reached in their final moments have been sustainable?

Roach thinks the kids will be fine, relieved even, given their joy at the news of their parents' prospective divorce. "If they did die, there would be a hefty insurance policy," says screenwriter Tony McNamara. "And those kids would be quite well off."

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The true tragedy of the film's conclusion, however, (besides, you know, death), is the fact that Ivy and Theo seem to have finally worked through some of the massive resentment that had accumulated in their marriage. "I thought they were going to get back together," suggests McNamara. "Though they might just get back into the [old] cycle."

Olivia Colman and Allison Janney in 'The Roses'.

Lara Cornell/Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures

Roach is slightly more optimistic, mostly hoping that it's something audiences debate long after the film ends. "That's what I want people to argue about that," he says of the possibility of true reconciliation. "I hope everybody walks out going, 'They almost figured that out. They were just this far off.'"

"I love how *cautionary tale* that feels," he adds. "That you may figure it out, but it might be too late. Or, what's that phrase? You always know what you needed to know after you needed to know it. It's that cascading thing that when you make the wrong choice, it could lead to several other disastrous things. If you make this turn, you might slide there and end up in the ditch. Don't end up in a ditch."

Stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman take a much rosier, if somewhat tongue-in-cheek, view of things. "They definitely have a very happy life, and they never fight again," Colman says, with a twinkle in her eye. "They probably buy a little fishing boat. And they go out and they spend time where they're just together on the sea."

Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman in 'The Roses'.

Jaap Buitendijk/Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures

Cumberbatch is a bit more circumspect, noting that the film's great tragedy is that they finally seem to figure things out only when it's too late. "Because they've gone quite that far, you'd really have to put some safeguarding in place," he muses. "They would definitely need to go back into therapy properly and admit their failings and go, 'Okay, we got it wrong, but we've got something we want to save.'"

Adds Colman: "Maybe they get a dog."

"They need something that's completely their own that they share, which could be a dog," Cumberbatch reflects. "They're sharing that."

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And despite the destruction and the attempts to murder each other, both Colman and Cumberbatch think the Roses would keep the house. "It is a really nice house," says Cumberbatch. And they're quite materialistic. Maybe they just never use the kitchen ever again."

*The Roses* is in theaters now.**

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