Kerry Washington Explains the Ending of 'American Son' Netflix Movie

Kerry Washington is opening up about the ending of her new Netflix movie American Son, which is an adaptation of the Broadway play of the same name.

The Emmy-nominated actress starred in the play and she reunited with cast members Steven Pasquale, Jeremy Jordan, and Eugene Lee to turn the show into a film for Netflix.

American Son tells the story of Kendra Ellis-Connor (Washington), the mother of a missing teenage boy, as she struggles to put the pieces together in a South Florida police station. The story presents four distinct viewpoints, while also navigating the unique dynamic of an interracial couple trying to raise a mixed-race son.

The rest of this post contains spoilers so, beware of reading further!

Click inside for details on how the movie ends and Kerry Washington’s thoughts…

In the final moments of the movie, we find out that Kendra’s son Jamal was shot and killed by a police office while exiting a vehicle.

“I was shocked and at first– I mean just really shocked. But the more I thought about it, the more I felt like, ‘Oh, this is how it has to be,’” Kerry told TheWrap. “Because to end it any other way, I think, would be almost disrespectful to all the people who have been in this situation where it has ended in a similar way. We don’t want to romanticize the issue. But I love that until the very end you are hoping against hope that it’s not gonna be that.”

Kerry also talked about how people affected by police brutality had seen the show on Broadway.

“There’s a lot of mothers of the movement who’ve come to see the show, moms who have been in this situation, they are so grateful that we don’t let people off the hook, that you have to walk out of the theater being willing to deal with the reality and that you don’t get to walk out of the theater pretending that everything is OK, ’cause it’s not,” she said.