Elizabeth Olsen’s character Joan finds herself in an afterlife love triangle with her first and second husband in her new film, Eternity — but who does she choose to spend forever with?
Warning: Spoilers below for Eternity.
The film, which hit theaters on Wednesday, November 26, centers on an afterlife where souls are given one week to decide how they wish to spend the rest of their otherworldly days — a choice that cannot be reversed once it’s made.
Joan (Olsen) faces an impossible decision when she arrives, realizing that she must choose between her swoon-worthy first husband, Luke (Callum Turner), who died as a young war hero and has been patiently waiting for her for decades, or her crotchety second husband Larry (Miles Teller), with whom she’s spent the past 65 years of her life (and died by way of a rogue pretzel).
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With the help of her afterlife coordinators (played by Da’Vine Joy Randolph and John Early), Joan must figure out who will be her forever companion.
“I like the idea of a woman being in charge of her own life,” Randolph exclusively told Us Weekly at the film’s New York City premiere in November 2025 of the movie’s premise. “And Lizzie does such an amazing job in that she is able to be the full spectrum of a woman, to be in her feelings and also to stand in her strength and her uncertainty. And women don’t always get the opportunity to do that.”
The fate of Joan’s afterlife is left in her hands — but who does she choose to spend it with? Keep scrolling for Eternity’s ending, explained:
Who Does Joan Choose at the End of ‘Eternity’?
So here’s the run down about the afterlife: everyone reverts back to the age when they were happiest and can craft their perfect place to live out their eternity. The catch? They can move on with only one person, and everyone gets just one chance to choose correctly — the decision cannot be reversed. This leaves Joan in a tricky position, as she finds herself stuck between two men who want to spend forever with her. First, there’s dashing and chivalrous first husband Luke (Turner), a hero who died in action during the Korean war and has been waiting for her for decades. There’s also second husband Larry (Teller), whom she’s been married to for the past 65 years.
Overwhelmed with nostalgia and what-ifs, Joan initially chooses Luke, and the couple end up in the mountains together to start their eternity. While they build a nice life together with good friends, Joan begins to desperately miss Larry and she quickly realizes she made a big mistake.
Determined to find her way back to her true soulmate, Joan finds a way to illegally skirt the system by escaping through underground tunnels to make her way back to Larry. The duo reunite and live happily ever after — literally — in a simple neighborhood resembling the one they resided in when they were on earth and at their happiest.
As for Luke, he remains in the mountains and works the rest of his days as a bartender, the job he took up when he was waiting for Joan to first arrive in the afterlife.
Is There a Post-Credits Scene in ‘Eternity’?
No, there is no post-credits scene for Eternity.
What Does the Cast Think About Joan’s Choice at the End of ‘Eternity’?
For Olsen, Joan choosing Larry was an “inevitable” ending — but that doesn’t mean it was obvious, either.
“I think it’s the beauty of this, that there’s no really right answer,” Olsen exclusively told Us at the film’s NYC premiere. “As long as she’s making the right decision for her. But I think the focus on the ordinary love and what it means, what love means, ultimately, and the people we choose to spend our lives with, and how simple that can be, and how ordinary it is, and how lucky we are to have those experiences, I think is at the heart of [this movie].”
Randolph also wasn’t surprised by Joan’s choice, praising the story for giving her character “enough time” to figure out what was right for her. She agreed with Olsen that “both” Luke and Larry could be great forever options, but the life Joan built with Larry was ultimately her “personal preference.”
“But even though my character [Anna] is all about Miles’ character, I still kind of felt like they both could have worked,” Randolph continued. “And so I enjoy that it didn’t feel like necessarily one was right over the other, even though [Larry is] what she chose. And I like the idea of a woman being in charge of her own life.”
Randolph credited Olsen for doing an “amazing job” with the role of Joan, noting that the actress was able to portray a “full spectrum of a woman, to be in her feelings and also to stand in her strength and her uncertainty. And women don’t always get the opportunity to do that.”
Olga Merediz, who plays Joan’s best friend Karen in the film, told Us that she believes Joan made the right decision despite her character knowing Luke well. “I think it was a good choice,” she said. “Obvious, not so obvious, but the right choice.”
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As for director and cowriter David Freyne, he told Us that Joan was always going to choose Larry from the movie’s inception — Luke never stood a chance.
“It’s always what [cowriter] Pat [Cunnane} and I wanted, but how we got there changed dramatically as we went along,” he explained. “How Joan gets back to Larry changes a lot. But I never wanted the ending to feel expected, but it should feel right when you get there, and it’s right that, you know, Luke is great and it was a great love, but it’s the wrong time.”
Eternity is in theaters now.
