Greenland 2: Migration Ending Explained - Who Survives & What Becomes Of The World?

The following contains spoilers for Greenland 2: MigrationGreenland 2: Migration ends on a quietly bittersweet moment that pays off the themes of both films. Building off the events of 2020's Greenland, the new Gerard Butler film revisits John Garrity and his family as they survive in a world severely damaged by a crashed comet.

When they're forced on the move, the family tries to reach a potential safe zone by surviving the elements and enduring the challenges faced by other people. It's a desperate movie with a grim perspective but a hopeful heart. This comes to a head by the film's conclusion, with the Garrity family seeing the world and finding a new home.

How Has The Earth Changed In Greenland 2: Migration?

Greenland 2: Migration reveals just how radically the world has changed since the events of the first film, setting up a new bedrock of civilization growing out of the ruins of the old world. Picking up roughly five years after the events of the previous film, Migration revisits the Garrity family in their shelter in Greeland.

While most of humanity has been killed off by the catastrophe, pockets of civilization have survived. While some of the radiation has dissipated, it's clear that too much prolonged exposure on the surface can steadily weaken and sicken people. However, some scientists theorize that the comets have also caused other areas to flourish and become habitable.

Another major fallout of the catastrophe is the extreme weather patterns that have developed in light of the damaged ozone layer and atmosphere. With large chunks of the comet still caught in the planet's orbit (and occasionally raining down to the surface), there is very little natural life flourishing on the surface.

Much of Greenland 2: Migration focuses on the Garrity family as they are forced to abandon their shelter due to earthquakes and tidal waves. Their best hope is to reach a massive crater site in France, which the Garrity's comapnion Dr. Amina, theorizes could be a safe-zone. This gives the Garrity's cause to make their way across Europe.

This gives Migration a chance to highlight how society splintered in the years since the catastrophe. It turns out more people survived on the surface in places like England and France than one might have expected, although the rule of law has more or less collapsed. British soldiers protect surviving government officials, with full license to kill a rowdy populace.

Meanwhile, the ruins of Liverpool are populated by a small community that has barely scraped by on what they can salvage. Making their way to France, the Garrity's discover a similar situation and must contend not just with a battle between insurgent forces and the French army, but raiders who end up killing Dr. Amina.

The world of Migration is an interesting one, with a grim bluntness to the violence that doesn't undercut the small batches of happiness that survivors have carved out for themselves. It reflects the film's themes that the world and humanity may be tested, but that people have the capacity to stay together.

Who Survives The European Trek In Greenland 2: Migration?

Most of the main cast of Greenland 2: Migration struggle to survive the chaos of the film, with the group suffering some pretty big blows over the course of their journey. The group loses most of their allies from the shelter in the earthquake and flood that forces them to flee. The others are picked off along the journey.

The biggest death in the film, however, is John Garrity. John's time is revealed to be limited about halfway through the film due to sickness from his excursions to the surface. Having repeatedly gone to the surface in Greenland, it seems John's health has been fading for some time.

Admitting to his wife that doctors suggested he only had months left at best, John's drive to get his family to safety takes on a somber edge after this revelation. It also explains why John has been so proactive in the film, with less fear for his own safety, so long as it ensures his wife and son remain safe.

During the final leg of the journey, John helps stop two raiders, killing one of them. However, John was also fatally wounded in the scuffle, only surviving long enough to see the safe zone. It allows John to pass peacefully, though, surrounded by his family (along with Camille, a French teenager they helped) and content that they will survive.

Does Greenland 2: Migration Set Up A Sequel?

While Greenland 2: Migration concludes on a fairly open-ended note, the central narrative of the two films seems to have reached a natural endpoint by the film's finale. The world of Greenland is a very different place at the end of the sequel, with plenty of threads that could be pulled for further stories.

The safe zone found by the Garrity's is left ambiguous, raising questions about what other survivors might have made their way to the area and what kind of future they're building. A prospective sequel could explore the construction of a new civilization, with Allison taking the lead role in light of John's death.

A follow-up could also expand on the other surviving groups and how they interact, as well as the full scope of the battle between the French army and the insurgency in the countryside. However, those plots might be best explored with the Garrity family moved onto the sidelines. Migration sets up potential sequels, but definitely concludes John's story.

The True Meaning Of Greeland 2: Migration

Greenland 2: Migration builds on the themes of the first film, once again using the near end of the world to tell a story about a family under pressure that will do anything and everything to survive. While the first film saw the Garrity's separated by circumstance, Migration keeps them together and tests them as a unit.

The thematic importance of this sense of unity can be found in the film's opening scenes, which see Allison, Denis, and the other shelter leaders debating whether they can afford to accept recently discovered refugees. Allison argues it's their responsibility to help people, even strangers, when given the chance.

This kindness is repaid in kind when the Garrity family find Camille's family, as they are crucial in helping the Garrity's get through the French countryside and towards the safe-zone. John's death is also not treated as some grandiose or heroic moment, but as a bittersweet farewell amid the survival of his family.

It plays into the film's view on survival, not being some single heroic action or major discovery, but persistent hope. The journey to the safe zone was arduous, and dangers still exist. However, John dies knowing his family has a chance, speaking to Greenland 2: Migration's focus on the importance of hope and family in the face of catastrophe.