Heart of Stone is the latest Netflix blockbuster to explode onto the streamer, starring Gal Gadot as Rachel Stone. By day, Rachel works in tech for MI6, hacking systems but staying out of the field. Also by day, she's an agent for the Charter, a mysterious organization committed to "keeping peace in a turbulent world." The Charter is able to do this with the help of the Heart, an all-powerful piece of artificial intelligence – which then falls into the hands of a mysterious hacker (Alia Bhatt).
It's an action-packed, globe-trotting espionage thriller, with no shortage of double crossings and twists, so you'd be forgiven for missing a few details here and there. But that's where we come in – we've recapped the movie's ending for you and also delved into the question of whether a sequel could be on the cards.
Be warned: there are major Heart of Stone spoilers ahead, so turn back now if you haven't seen the movie and don't want to know what happens!
Heart of Stone ending explained
As the movie enters its final act, hacker Keya (Bhatt) and traiterous MI6 agent Parker (Jamie Dornan) try to get the Heart from where it's stored in a Charter-owned aircraft, 80,000 feet above the Earth. After being forced to stand down by the Charter, Rachel goes to Senegal anyway to try to stop them.
However, Parker beats her to it and gets his hands on the Heart, blowing up the craft in the process – although, unbeknownst to him, Keya has encrypted the device to her biometrics, so he can't use it without her.
Rachel manages to escape from the craft and finds Keya back on the ground, who's been abandoned by Parker in the desert. The pair talk, and Rachel finds out Keya's motive for gaining control of the Heart – she wants revenge on the man who tested on her parents "like lab rats", and wants to expose a list of people who are culpable for these abuses by using the Heart to get the info.
Meanwhile, Parker takes the Heart to a lab in Iceland, but Rachel and Keya follow him. He misled Keya about his intentions with the Heart – she believed he wanted to help her and bring down corrupt systems of power, but he just wants to take down the Charter, "taking back control" after being "used and manipulated".
He uses the Heart to trap Rachel's handler Nomad (Sophie Okonedo), 'man in the chair' Jack (Matthias Schweighöfer), and the rest of the Charter team in a security bunker that's rapidly running out of oxygen. With Rachel's help, however, Keya manages to shut down the Heart before Parker can get it under his control, and the Charter gets their air supply back.
After saving the day, Rachel is allowed back into the Charter – and this time she wants to go "against the odds". She recruits Keya and gets Jack out in the field with them, and the movie ends with the trio about to take on their first mission.
Does Heart of Stone set up a sequel on Netflix?
When Heart of Stone was first announced back in 2020, the movie was billed as being the first in a franchise and compared to Mission: Impossible or James Bond. That means there's definitely been talk of a sequel, but nothing has been confirmed yet – whether or not a second movie is greenlit will depend on the success of Heart of Stone.
The way the movie ends certainly sets up a sequel, though – Rachel has a new team working with her, and we only see the trio working together for the first time in the closing scene. Keya and Jack are helping her out, with all three of them out in the field, and a sequel would presumably explore the dynamic between them.
Netflix is no stranger to a franchise, either. The streamer's successful original movies, including the Chris Hemsworth-led Extraction, the star-studded The Gray Man, and Red Notice, which also starred Gadot, have all had sequels commissioned, so if Heart of Stone races up the viewing charts, it seems pretty likely that we can expect a second installment.
Heart of Stone is out now on Netflix. For more on the movie, check out our interviews with stars Gal Gadot, Alia Bhatt, and Jamie Dornan. For more viewing inspiration, check out our picks of the other best Netflix movies to add to your watch list.
