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Michael John Petty is a Senior Author for Collider who spends his days writing, in fellowship with his local church, and enjoying each new day with his wife and daughters. At Collider, he writes features and reviews, and has interviewed the cast and crew of Dark Winds. In addition to writing about stories, Michael has told a few of his own. His first work of self-published fiction – The Beast of Bear-tooth Mountain – became a #1 Best Seller in "Religious Fiction Short Stories" on Amazon in 2023. His Western short story, The Devil's Left Hand, received the Spur Award for "Best Western Short Fiction" from the Western Writers of America in 2025. Michael currently resides in North Idaho with his growing family.
In traditional science fiction, there are few names as recognizable as Arthur C. Clarke. Having written everything from short stories and non-fiction works to co-penning the screenplay to 2001: A Space Odyssey, Clarke is perhaps best known for Childhood's End, an alien invasion novel that became an instant classic. After decades of unsuccessfully bringing the story to life on the screen, SYFY ushered Childhood's End into the 21st century in 2015 with a three-part miniseries that features one of the most unsettling endings in the genre.
How Does 'Childhood's End' Actually End?
Image via SYFYChildhood's End was split into three parts — "The Overlords," "The Deceivers," and "The Children" — and each is as mind-boggling as the last. After the Overlords arrive on Earth, cure disease, and usher in a new "utopia," decades pass before Karellen's (Charles Dance) mysterious endgame is enacted. The last generation of human children are taken and merged with the cosmic force known only as the Overmind, and the remaining adult population is left behind to live out the rest of their days before Earth's ultimate destruction. Using a young girl named Jennifer (Rory Bochner), the devilish-looking Overlords plan to destroy the Earth and all that remains of human civilization before moving on to the next world to do the same.
Having been curious about the Overlords since his youth, Milo Rodericks (Osy Ikhile, of Black Mirror fame) sneaks onto the mothership where he confronts Karellen about humanity's fate. Unable to reverse what has already begun, Milo refuses Karellen's offer to join them in the stars and asks instead to be sent back to Earth, where he records the planet's final moments. With his last breaths, he asks Karellen to save something from his culture, something to remember humanity by. Choosing "The Lark Ascending" by composer Ralph Vaughan Williams (based on Milo's childhood), the world ignites from within. As the abducted children "grow up" into the collective consciousness that is the Overmind, the Overlords move on to the next world.
The somber and seemingly inevitable ending is presented as this beautiful and harrowing moment as Milo witnesses the destruction of his homeworld, almost as if Childhood's End wants us to root for the Overlords, who believe that mankind ought to be put to pasture. But in reality, the whole thing comes across as both uncomfortable and easily preventable (had the alien intelligence sought to genuinely aid humanity rather than lull them into a false sense of security before destruction). The abduction of the children — who, due to becoming connected via hive mind, are willing participants — is about as horrific as any parent could imagine. It's certainly not the sort of ending that bolsters emotional catharsis, as families are ripped apart under the guise of "this is how things should be" before humanity is left to die a slow, depressing death over the course of 80 years.
'Childhood's End' Is a Complicated Adaptation That Modernizes Arthur C. Clarke's Classic Sci-Fi Novel
However you feel about the ending of the SYFY miniseries, the truth is that Childhood's End was a bit polarizing from the get-go. While some have praised the attempt at modernizing Clarke's tale into the 21st century, others have criticized the project for its vast departures from the novel. As our 2015 review of Childhood's End observed, "the miniseries also strips down the book’s material in a way that takes away its compelling nature, failing to connect disparate stories, and leaving its central characters without much nuance or interest." While we can forgive reimagining UN Secretary-General Rikki Stormgren as a Midwestern farmer played by Mike Vogel — who is caught in a strange love triangle between his current wife Ellie (Daisy Betts) and his deceased bride Annabelle (Georgina Haig) — some of the other major changes are a tougher sell. Most importantly, the ending doesn't land the same way.
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Childhood's End has a lot that it wants to say in the span of over four hours, but for all of its commentary on media, religion, and the individuality of man, it's ultimately overshadowed by an ending that leaves the viewer unsure of the point. Of course, Clarke's novel ended quite similarly, leaving the reader with just as many questions. But the main difference is in the masterful way the author spins his tale together. By comparison, the miniseries doesn't quite do justice to the complex nuances and engaging philosophical ideas at play in the original sci-fi classic, and that is perhaps what is most uncomfortable about humanity's fate in SYFY's adaptation. No matter if you read the book or watch the miniseries, the world still ends. Yet, the former makes a better case for its conclusion than the latter, which is a shame for a sci-fi miniseries that looks as good as this one.
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