‘Firestarter’ Ending Explained: What That Ending Could Mean for a ‘Firestarter’ Sequel (2024)

Warning: This article contains major Firestarter (2022) spoilers. Duh!

Parenting is a tough job—but it’s especially tough when your child has the supernatural ability to light things on fire with her mind.

Andy and Vicky McGee learned that the hard way in Stephen King’s 1980 novel Firestarter, and now that lesson will be passed along to the next generation with the 2022 Firestarter reboot movie, which opens in theaters and began streaming on Peaco*ck Premium today.

Directed by Keith Thomas, with a screenplay by Scott Teems, this new Firestarter movie stars Zac Efron, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, Sydney Lemmon, Kurtwood Smith, John Beasley, Michael Greyeyes, and Gloria Reuben. It’s technically a reboot of the 1984 film starring Drew Barrymore, though the lack of modern technology means it’s basically a remake. But little girls who light people on fire are scary in any decade.

Though the plot is fairly straightforward, you may miss things along the way, especially if you’re not familiar with the original story. Read on to get the Firestarter plot summary, and the 2022 Firestarter ending explained.

WHAT IS FIRESTARTER ABOUT? FIRESTARTER PLOT SUMMARY:

Andy (Zac Efron) and Vicky (Sydney Lemmon) are trying their best to give their daughter, Charlie (Ryan Kiera Armstrong) a normal upbringing, but it’s difficult when she keeps lighting things on fire with her mind. Andy and Vicky are no strangers to superpowers—they both have powers of their own, thanks to the fact that they participated in a shady scientific trial study when they were both in college. Andy has the power to “push” people into doing his bidding, which he uses in his job as a life coach. But lately, using his power has been causing him to bleed from his eyeballs. Not great!

Using mindfulness techniques, Charlie has been able to suppress her powers for years. But now, for reasons unknown, she is having trouble controlling herself. After causing a small explosion at school, the family decides it’s time to go on the run, again. They know bad people have been looking for them; people who will take Charlie away from them. It’s why they’ve never allowed Charlie to use the internet or modern technology—because it makes it easier to track them.

Unfortunately, they can’t get out of town fast enough. A superpowered bounty hunter named John Rainbird (Michael Greyeyes) is tasked by the bad people—known as The Shop—to capture Charlie and bring her in for further experimentation. As it turns out, The Shop is the same agency that administered the superpower drug to Charlie’s parents all those years ago. But given that Charlie was born with powers, they want to study her.

A failed attempt to kidnap Charlie by John Rainbird leaves Charlie’s mother dead. We learn that Vicky’s power was telekinesis and that Charlie has that power, too. Charlie and her dad go on the run, and her dad tells her that she probably has the power to “push” as well. He also tells her the story of when The Shop kidnapped her as a baby, but he found her, because of their psychic connection. He confesses that he killed the men who took her and that he regrets that. He makes her promise never to use her powers to hurt anyone.

Eventually, John Rainbird finds Charlie and her dad. Dad uses his push to confuse Rainbird, giving Charlie a chance to run away. The dad is taken into The Shop, where he is interrogated by the leader, Captain Hollister (Gloria Reuben). Hollister tells Dad he has to call Charlie to come to them. Meanwhile, Rainbird expresses regret for what he has done to people he considers his own kind (aka, people with powers).

On the run, Charlie hears her dad call to her. She shows up at The Shop facility, burns an agent’s face off, steals his key card, and finds her dad. He’s nearly dead, and he’s shocked to see her. It turns out, he wasn’t the one who called her… it was John Rainbird. Dun dun dun.

WHAT IS THE FIRESTARTER ENDING EXPLAINED?

Captain Hollister appears behind Dad, and explains to Charlie that he is dying because his brain is hemorrhaging when he uses his powers. One more push, she says, will kill him. It could happen to Charlie too, but if she goes with The Shop, they will help her, etc. Obviously, it’s a lie—these are the bad guys, after all!

While she speaks to Charlie, Hollister deliberately stands behind Charlie’s dad, believing that Charlie will not burn her up if it means burning her dad, too. And she’s right—but she didn’t account for the fact that Charlie’s dad has one last push in him. Using his push, dad forces Charlie to burn both Hollister and himself.

Overcome with grief, Charlie adopts a “burn it all down” policy to escape the facility. She kills people left and right. For a moment, it seems like agents in fire-retardent suits will capture her, but then John Rainbird appears, shoots them, and offers himself up for Charlie to kill. And she almost does… but then decides to spare him. She leaves the building, burns it down, and collapses on the beach in tears.

Then John Rainbird appears and offers her a hand. She takes it. In the final shot of the film, Rainbird carries Charlie in his arms down the beach, implying that the two of them are now a team. This is a different ending than the ’80s movie and the original novel, which left Rainbird dead and ended with Charlie relaying her story to the media.

So what does this mean? Will there be a Firestarter 2 featuring Charlie and Rainbird as a united front?

WILL THERE BE A FIRESTARTER 2?

There’s no news of an official sequel to the Firestarter reboot just yet, but the director has said he’d be interested in expanding the Firestarter universe, whether in a sequel or a series. In an interview with Comicbook.com, Thomas said, “I’m always down, I’m always down. I think we’ve got all sorts of ideas of where it could go. Obviously, Stephen King didn’t write a sequel. So all that would need to be explored, but I feel like we created a world in this, and some characters that I feel like their stories could definitely expand, expand and go on.”

Whether or not we get a Firestarter sequel likely depends on how the movie does in theaters and on Peaco*ck. We’ll have to wait and see.