The ending of the film “The Wild Robot” is explained

• Chris Sanders’ “The Wild Robot” stays true to the ending of Peter Brown’s book.
• Sanders faced challenges but received DreamWorks Animation’s full support for the book’s ending.
• The ending of the film is more cinematic, with a major battle and hints of a sequel.

“The Wild Robot” is based on a popular book series by Peter Brown. It’s about a robot named Roz (voiced by Lupita Nyong’o) who, after landing on an island inhabited by wild animals, learns their behavior and becomes a mother figure to a young gosling.

The film’s writer and director, Chris Sanders (“Lilo & Stitch,” “How to Train Your Dragon”) stayed true to Brown’s ending of the first book. However, Sanders admits that it was the more difficult ending and he initially didn’t know if he was suitable for it.

“I had concerns,” Sanders told Business Insider. “I didn’t want to end the story with the assumption that we were going to make more ‘The Wild Robot’ movies. It just made me feel uncomfortable.”

So he came up with two endings: one that was similar to Brown’s book ending and foreshadowed a sequel, and another that concluded the whole story. He then presented both to executives at DreamWorks Animation, the studio behind the film.

“To their credit, they unanimously said, ‘Do the other ending, do the one that matches the book,'” Sanders recalls. “It’s a harder ending because you have to stick the landing.”

But with the studio’s full support, Sanders opted for a more open ending. The result is full of emotion and the thrill of what’s to come.

Warning: Spoilers for the book and film “The Wild Robot”.

The ending of the movie “The Wild Robot” is more cinematic than that of the book

In Brown’s book, three combat robots called RECOS arrive on the island to return Roz to her makers. After a fight between the robots and Roz, Roz is reduced to nothing but a head and a torso alongside the animals on the island. She decides to go back to their makers to get them repaired and stop them from returning. As she flies away, she begins to plan how to escape and return to the island.

Sanders made a few changes to the ending of the film, making it more cinematic. Instead of three RECOS, in the film it is a robot named Vontra (voiced by Stephanie Hsu) who gets Roz. Eventually she calls in a robot army to bring Roz back. This leads to a big fight between the robots and Roz with the wild animals. There’s a wildfire and a moment where Roz is taken to the mothership and the gosling she raised, Brightbill (Kit Connor), has to save her.

As in the book, Roz realizes that she must return to her creators to prevent the arrival of more robots. She leaves with Vontra (and unlike the book, Roz is not missing any limbs). Then there’s a jumpcut to Roz working in a greenhouse alongside other robots who appear to have been reset to their factory settings. However, Brightbill suddenly appears next to her and Roz reveals that she is still herself, suggesting that she is planning a way back to the island.

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Sanders “definitely” wants to make a sequel

Brown has written two other books in the series, The Wild Robot Escapes and The Wild Robot Protects. In “Escapes,” Roz is sent to work on a dairy farm but still plans to return to Brightbill and the island.

When asked if he had started working on a sequel to The Wild Robot, Sanders slyly replied, “Maybe yes.” He admitted that he “absolutely” wants to make a sequel.

“In this first book, Roz is a victim of circumstance. She is lost and it is beyond her control. She is in a situation that is beyond her control,” he said. “But in Peter’s second book, she works through the problem and takes more responsibility for her journey.”

“The Wild Robot” is in theaters now.