“Apex” Ending Explained: Does Sasha Escape Ben's Cannibalistic Hunt?

Keith LangstonFri, April 24, 2026 at 2:00 PM UTC

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Charlize Theron as Sasha in 'Apex'Credit: Kane Skennar/Netflix -

Apex is a modern reimagining of the classic short story The Most Dangerous Game

The Netflix thriller sees Charlize Theron star as Sasha, a grieving woman hunted by the cannibal Ben (Taron Egerton)

In the final scenes, Sasha finds evidence of Ben's past crimes

In Apex, the most dangerous predators are the ones you'd never expect.

The Netflix thriller — which hit the streamer on April 24 — is a modern take on the classic Richard Connell short story The Most Dangerous Game. In this iteration, Apex follows a grieving woman named Sasha (Charlize Theron) as she's hunted through the Blue Mountains of Australia by Ben, a deranged cannibal (Taron Egerton).

Sasha — who's mourning the death of her partner Tommy (Eric Bana) in a rock climbing accident — first meets Ben while he's selling homemade jerky at a gas station. After asking him for directions, she sets off for a solo backpacking trip through the wilderness in Australia's fictional Wandarra National Park.

But after her first night in the park, she wakes up to a loud, strange bird caw that sounds like it's being made by a human. Even worse, she discovers that all of her gear has been stolen — by Ben, who quickly reveals that she has just minutes to escape before he begins hunting her.

The rest of the film sees Sasha try to escape Ben, but things take a turn for the worse after she gets caught in a bear trap that he's placed. Once kidnapped, Ben takes her back to his cavernous lair, where Sasha sees the mummified bodies of dozens of other victims whose bodies he makes into jerky. He then hangs Sasha from a dolly and prepares to brine her body in a salt solution, which he claims tenderizes the skin.

But, does Sasha escape Ben's clutches? Here's everything to know about the ending of Apex.

Warning: Spoilers for Apex below!

How does Sasha escape Ben's lair?

Taron Egerton as Ben and Charlize Theron as Sasha in 'Apex'Credit: Kane Skennar/Netflix

Knowing she's about to die, Sasha makes one last attempt at escaping. After Ben gets close enough to her, she bites his ear off, and the two get in a fight. The jostling loosens her ties enough to make her drop.

With her hands still tied together and the rope dragging behind her, Sasha makes her escape and jumps into a rushing river that leads out of the cave. But as she hops in, Ben jumps in behind her and grabs the rope, tying it around himself and tethering the two together.

The river eventually leads the two over a giant waterfall, and Ben is injured during the fall. After they wash ashore, his injury gives Sasha enough time to break his leg with a large rock, causing his bone to puncture through his skin.

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Armed with a knife, Ben doesn't want Sasha to come near him. But with his broken leg, he'll never escape the situation without her. On the flipside, Sasha needs her hands untied to escape — for which she needs Ben's help.

The two find themselves at a stalemate and realize that, at least for a brief moment, they need each other to survive.

How does Apex end?

Taron Egerton as Ben and Charlize Theron as Sasha in 'Apex'Credit: Kane Skennar/Netflix

The two have washed ashore next to a giant cliff. Sasha knows she has two options — she could either wait for Ben to die from his wound getting infected, which could take a few days, or she could use her climbing experience to make her way out.

She convinces Ben that he'll die from his wounds if they stay, saying that the only way for them to escape is for him to untie her so she can help Ben up the cliff. Ben agrees, and the two begin their climb. But Ben warns Sasha that if she tries to untie their tether during the trek, he'll pull her down, killing them both.

Does Sasha survive in Apex?

Charlize Theron as Sasha and Taron Egerton as Ben in 'Apex'Credit: Kane Skennar/Netflix

Towards the top of the cliff, Sasha sees an overhang that will block Ben's view of her. Once she summits the overhang, she slowly starts to transfer the rope from herself to a dead tree that's hanging off the rock.

Just as she's about done, Ben catches on to what's happening and starts to pull her down. Luckily, Sasha has the tether loose enough that it slides off of her, dropping Ben to his death.

Now alone and without climbing equipment, Sasha has one final overhang to summit. Putting the last remnants of her strength into the climb, she manages to make it over the rock and summit the promontory.

She's eventually picked up by two women and driven back to her campervan. From there, she goes to a ranger station and reports the bodies she found in the cave.

Why was Sasha in Australia?

Charlize Theron as Sasha in 'Apex'Credit: Kane Skennar/Netflix

At one point during their chase, Ben tells Sasha he looked her up online before the hunt, which he calls a “ritual.” He tells her that he knows about the accident in Norway and that her partner Tommy was originally from this region in Australia. He asks Sasha if she came to the country as a memorial to Tommy, but she remains silent and never answers.

In the final moments of the movie, Sasha drives to the ocean. Standing on the beach, she takes out a compass that belonged to Tommy, kisses it and throws it into the ocean, revealing that she did come to Australia to honor Tommy's death.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”