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The Stranger has been impressing critics and viewers alike on Netflix with its tense retelling of a true-crime case. Joel Egerton and Sean Harris lead the cast as a pair who develop an unlikely friendship when Egerton’s Mark Frame brings Harris’ Henry Teague into a crime ring.
However, as the story develops, it soon becomes clear a lot more is going on in the background than first thought. Before we go any further, we’ll be getting into spoiler territory from here on out about The Stranger ending – and how it differs from real life. So if you haven’t seen the Thomas M. Wright-directed film yet, click away now.
The Stranger ending explained *spoilers*
Mark Frame is an undercover police officer who’s been working as part of a huge investigation into Henry Teague’s involvement in a missing person case. He was one of the main suspects in the disappearance of a young boy but, without any evidence linking him to the crime, he was never convicted.
Eight years later, a group of officers have embedded Teague in a fictional crime ring to try and draw a confession out of him. Under the guise of wanting to clear up any future criminal issues that may jeopardize their work, the leader of the criminal organization asks Teague if he had any involvement in the crime.
Teague confesses that he did kill the young boy, revealing what happened and where he buried the body. After he’s taken them to the scene of the crime, he is arrested and a huge operation begins to find the boy’s body and bring the case to court.
For a long time, the search is largely unsuccessful as the police find very little. But, in the final moments of the film, one of the search team participants raises their hand, indicating that they’ve found the body.
The movie ends here, without any more explanation about what happened to Teague or whether he was convicted. However, given the film is based on a true story, we do know what might have happened next.
What happened to Henry Teague in real life?
The Stranger is based on the book 'The Sting' by Kate Kyriacou about the investigation into Australian teen Daniel Morcombe’s murder. The young boy was abducted in Queensland at an underpass on December 7, 2003, when he was just 13. He was presumed dead but his body was not found.
The movie changed the names of those involved, but the details are almost identical. Police used a kind of covert investigation tool called a Mr. Big operation to investigate a suspect called Brett Peter Cowan. Just as they do in the Netflix movie, law enforcement created a fake criminal enterprise, luring the suspect into it with the hope of eliciting a confession.
Eight years after the teen’s murder, Cowan admitted to the crime and was charged on August 13, 2011. Two weeks later, shoes and human bones were found in the Glass House Mountains that were identified as Morcombe’s.
Cowan stood trial and was sentenced to life imprisonment after he was convicted of murder on March 13, 2014. He was also charged with deprivation of liberty, child stealing, indecent treatment of a child under 16, and interfering with a corpse.
Following their son’s murder, the Morcombe family set up a foundation to educate children about personal safety. However, they declined involvement in the making of The Stranger and have been critical of its release.
For what else to watch on the streaming platform, check out our guide to the best Netflix movies available now.
