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This article contains spoilers for Uglies and the novels Pretties and Specials.
In the world of the new sci-fi dystopian movie Uglies, people fall into two categories. There are the Pretties, the people who have been altered according to a surgical procedure, and the Uglies, people who have not undergone the procedure. At the start of Uglies, 15-year-old Tally Youngblood (Joey King) wants nothing more than to be a Pretty.
At the end of the film, Tally has achieved her dream. But like everything else in Uglies, the surface doesn’t tell the whole story. Here’s what happened at the end of the new Netflix movie, what it all means, and what could happen next in a sequel based on what we know from the books…
Uglies Ending Explained
“Welcome to your new home,” intones the gentle sounds of a wall screen computer, ready to ensure her comfort. The camera follows behind Tally as she enters a golden burnished room, her blonde hair perfectly arranged. When the wall computer checks Tally’s health and wellness, it identifies evidence of lingering effects from a recent surgery and perhaps some degree of anxiety. Yet, Tally dismisses all these concerns, insisting that she’s fine.
The careful watcher will notice that Tally may not be as happy as she claims. Before panning up to her “Pretty” face, the camera catches Tally rubbing her hand, revealing a scar that still remains. The scar, of course, is a sign of her bond with her best friend Peris (Chase Stokes), who promised one another that they would keep their hand scars after becoming Pretty.
The scar reveal, and the brief look of discomfort on Tally’s face before she gives her final smile, suggests that Prettiness isn’t the end of her journey. Directed by McG and adapted from the Scott Westerfeld novel, Uglies takes Tally on a journey of self-discovery. Thanks to a rebellious Ugly called Shay (Brianne Tju), Tally learns that the Pretty procedure strips away independent thought. Worse, the orchid used for the procedure harms the environment.
Through Shay, Tally meets David (Keith Powers), leader of a group of Uglies called The Smoke, who live outside the main city in the Rusty Ruins and enjoy a sustainable existence while holding onto their autonomy. Moreover, they live with David’s parents (Jay DeVon Johnson and Charmin Lee), who helped develop the Pretty process and may have found a way to reverse it. Before they can know for sure, Dr. Cable (Laverne Cox) finds the camp and kills David’s parents, her former colleagues.
Thus, the Uglies face a complicated choice. They can only know if the Pretty cure works by testing it on someone who has undergone the procedure. And when Shay, who had the procedure at Cable’s insistence, refuses, then Tally takes it on.
With that in mind, Uglies ends on an ambiguous note. Will Tally undergo the cure? Or will she embrace her dream of being Pretty, no matter the cost?
What Uglies 2 Would Be About Based on the Books
Anyone who really wants the answer should really check out the other novels written by Westerfeld, namely the sequels Pretties (2005) and Specials (2006). But as far as an Uglies Part 2 movie is concerned, we can make some educated guesses as to what would happen in a sequel where it to get green lit.
Pretties begins with Tally living the beautiful life, seemingly happy, having broken her promise to remember her old identity as an Ugly. When Croy, a member of the Smoke (portrayed by Jan Luis Castellanos in Uglies), sneaks into the city to get a message to Tally, she undergoes a stunt that only increases her popularity and further ensconces her among the Pretties.
However, when Tally meets the Pretty Zane, who once belonged to the Smoke, the two discover the cure pills that Croy left, and take them to restore their Ugly selves. The cure doesn’t work the way Zane and Tally hoped, but it does clear their heads and drive them to plan an escape from the City in order to return to the Smoke, despite interventions from Dr. Cable. Yet, every time they try to escape, Zane and Tally raise the popularity of their clique, earning the ire of a rival group founded by the now-Pretty Shay.
When the two do finally make it back to David and the Rusty Ruins, Tally discovers more about the nature of the Pretty scientists’ experiments and the blurred lines between the Pretties and Uglies. Worse, she learns why the cure didn’t work the way she expected, which catches the attention of the Pretties elite guards, the Specials.
Specials builds to the battle between the Pretties and the Uglies, as fought by the Specials and the Smoke. As a member of both groups, Tally stands at the center, risking her life to prove that these differences only go skin deep.
Will Pretties and Specials get a Netflix adaptation? That’s not clear right now, as success metrics for Netflx are famously opaque. But with Uglies currently sitting in the number one position on the streaming service, it’s certainly off to a good start.
Even if Pretties and Specials never make their way to the service, viewers still have the complexity of the ambiguous ending of Uglies. Whether that’s beautiful or horrible sits in the eye of the beholder.
Uglies is now streaming on Netflix. A sequel has not yet been announced by the streamer.
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