When it comes to his films, Jordan Peele’s always been up for a discussion. Creating horror movies that cause as much chin-scratching as they do spine-chilling, the comedian-turned-director went so far as to crash a UCLA course that revolved around his wildly successful debut, Get Out.
But when it came to Us, his impressive follow-up to the Oscar-winner, Peele’s remained relatively quiet – at least when it comes to addressing or confirming fan theories. Ever since the film broke out at this year’s SXSW festival, he’s abstained from giving away too many direct answers, opting instead to let the audience make up their own minds.
However, in the featurettes that come with the film’s Blu-ray release, the director seemed to break his own rule in order to debunk a popular fan theory that’s circulated around the plot.
As many – Us being the highest grossing original film of 2019 domestically – know by now, the movie follows a family who must fend off attacks by their devilish doppelgängers, the “tethered.” While the ending’s a bit vague when it comes to the fate and past of its lead character, Adelaid (Lupita Nyong’o), a lot of viewers have predicted that Jason, her son, played by Evan Alex, was actually a member of “the tethered” the whole time. Though he didn’t go into a lot of details, Peele’s plan for the character refutes that theory.
“I always thought of the family in terms of a certain archetypal foursome,” Peele revealed on the commentary. “Adelaide is the leader, the captain. Zora is the warrior. She acts before she thinks and she kicks ass. Gabe is the fool, even though on the surface he looks like he might be the leader or the warrior. And Jason is the wizard. He’s the magician.”
“I have this kinda concept of Jason that he can sorta see through the veil. You can see these moments where he’s observing his mother and he’s meant to be a little step ahead of us, the most clever of us that’s sorta figuring out there’s something more to Adelaide’s story than we see.”
So, it looks like that conversation can be tossed out the window. But don’t worry, Peele’s planted plenty of questions and hints for fans to dig up. So please, keep digging now that Us is available on Blu-ray, DVD and digital.