The ending of The Electric State is all about Michelle making the heartbreaking choice to kill her long-lost brother, Christopher, in order to bring down Skate and his army of Sentre droids. From the very beginning of the movie, Christopher was portrayed as a tech genius, someone who had the potential to change the world. But everything changed when the robot war started. A tragic car accident left Michelle and Christopher without their parents, and while Michelle survived with injuries, Christopher was taken by Dr. Amherst and handed over to Sentre. Once there, Skate discovered that Christopher’s brain was the perfect processor for the Neurocaster network, which powered the remotely controlled Sentre drones. So, instead of letting him die, they turned him into the core of their entire system, using his consciousness to run their vast, oppressive drone police force.
Dr. Amherst couldn’t bear to see a child being used in such a horrific way, so he found a way to connect Christopher’s mind to the “outside network.” This allowed Christopher to inhabit Cosmo, the little robot, and guide Michelle toward him. But when Skate discovered Amherst’s interference, he launched an attack, killing Amherst and capturing Cosmo. By reintegrating Christopher’s consciousness back into the network, Skate regained full control, setting the stage for his ultimate plan: a utopian virtual reality controlled entirely by Sentre. Determined to save Christopher and stop Skate, Michelle teamed up with Keats, Herm, Mr. Peanut, and a group of rebel robots from Blue Sky Acres, launching an all-or-nothing mission to take down Sentre headquarters.
As the battle raged outside, Michelle and PC (Dr. Amherst’s robotic assistant) made their way inside to find Christopher. What they found was horrifying—Christopher was trapped in a coffin-like machine, his mind forever linked to Sentre’s system. The only way to reach him was by using the Neurocaster, something Michelle had always refused to wear due to ethical concerns. But with no other choice, she put it on and entered the virtual reality where Christopher’s consciousness was trapped. There, she begged him to leave with her, but Christopher explained the grim reality: he and Sentre were completely intertwined. If he was disconnected, both of them would die. Skate had designed the system in such a way that Christopher’s mind could be sustained indefinitely, even for over a hundred years, but it would never be a real life. Knowing this wasn’t the kind of existence he wanted, Christopher asked Michelle to end it all.
At first, Michelle couldn’t bring herself to do it. She had just found her brother after years of searching—how could she let him go so soon? But as PC reminded her, their friends were fighting a losing battle against Skate’s forces. If she didn’t act fast, they would all die. At the same time, Colonel Bradbury, a soldier working for Skate, had a change of heart. He had been fine with fighting robots, but learning that Skate had used a human child as a machine’s processor was too much. Instead of following orders, he quit, refusing to be part of such an inhumane operation.
Meanwhile, Skate realized what Michelle was doing and rushed to stop her. But Peanut, one of the rebel robots, intercepted him just in time. This gave Michelle the chance to embrace her brother one last time before making the impossible decision—she pulled the plug. Christopher was gone, and with him, every single Sentre drone powered by the Neurocaster went offline. The battle was over, and the world came to a standstill. The truth about Skate’s horrifying experiments spread across the globe, leading to his arrest while he was attempting to flee to Ecuador. Congress launched investigations into Sentre, and the long-standing ban on robots was lifted, finally allowing humans and machines to coexist. In a final message, Michelle recorded a video urging people to embrace the real world instead of living in the artificial one that Skate had promised.
But just when it seemed like Christopher was truly gone, the film dropped a final twist. In a junkyard filled with discarded Neurocasters and drones, Cosmo—who had been tossed away like trash—suddenly powered back on. This strongly hinted that Christopher had managed to transfer at least part of his consciousness into Cosmo before he died. The movie had made a big deal about Christopher saying he couldn’t do this, as Sentre had blocked that ability. Yet, in a classic Hollywood move, the filmmakers left the door open for a sequel, despite how much it undermined the emotional weight of Michelle’s sacrifice.
This twist raises several questions. Why was Cosmo even in the junkyard? Did Michelle not realize its importance and just leave it behind? If Christopher had truly found a way to survive, why wasn’t it hinted at earlier in a more meaningful way? The ending suggests Netflix wanted to keep the possibility of a sequel alive, despite The Electric State having a massive budget of $320 million. With its limited theatrical release and unclear streaming success, a follow-up seems unlikely, making this final twist feel unnecessary. It takes away from the emotional weight of Michelle’s decision, turning a deeply personal sacrifice into just another setup for a franchise that may never happen.
In the end, The Electric State gives audiences a bittersweet resolution. Michelle succeeds in taking down Skate and freeing the world from Sentre’s grasp, but it comes at the cost of losing Christopher—at least, that’s what it seemed like until the final moment with Cosmo. Whether or not Christopher is truly alive is left up to interpretation, but the ambiguity doesn’t necessarily make for a satisfying conclusion. If anything, it feels like an afterthought, a last-minute addition to keep viewers talking rather than giving the story the closure it deserved.