Materialists ending explained: Billionaire's perfection or halal cart with her broke ex boyfriend — what does Lucy choose?

Time of India

15 hours ago

A24's latest romance-drama, Materialists, hit theatres on June 13, 2025, and stirred up conversations online, thanks to its stellar cast featuring Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans, and Pedro Pascal. Directed by Celine Song, who made her directorial debut with Oscar-nominated Past Lives, the film stars Johnson as Lucy, a sharp and successful matchmaker navigating love and power in New York City. She's joined by Pedro Pascal as Harry, a charming billionaire, and Chris Evans as John, her broke but earnest ex-boyfriend. From its sleek cinematography to the painfully real conversations about love and money, Materialists has people asking—Harry or John, who does Lucy choose?
What's The Materialists about?
Lucy works at Adore Matchmaking, where finding love looks a lot more like running an investment firm. She's not matching horoscopes; she's matching income brackets, attractiveness scores, and political alignment. Early in the movie, she meets Harry, a tall, rich, practically engineered-to-perfection bachelor, at a client's wedding. The same night, she bumps into John, her ex-boyfriend and an aspiring actor, who now waits tables and lives with roommates.
From there, Lucy gets pulled into a classic triangle. Harry is everything she's been told to want: successful, generous, and elite. John is the one that got away—the guy she left because she didn't want to celebrate their anniversary with halal cart food. But as the story unfolds, we see cracks in Lucy's logic and her career. Is love really just a numbers game?
So, who does Lucy end up with? (Spoilers)
In the end, Lucy chooses John, not because he's the safe or successful option, but because he's the one who truly knows her. After everything she's built in her matchmaking career, Lucy finds herself questioning the very formula she's been selling: that love can be calculated based on looks, money, and shared values. Her relationship with Harry may have looked perfect on paper—he's rich, charming, and even over six feet tall (thanks, as it turns out, to leg-lengthening surgery). But emotionally, there's nothing there. When it finally hits her that their dynamic feels more like a business deal than a relationship, she chooses to walk away from what many would have thought was her perfect fairy tale.
John, on the other hand, isn't rich, polished, or predictable. But he's real. He's the guy who was there before she became 'marketable.' And even though their past had flaws (remember that halal cart breakup?), he's never stopped seeing her for who she actually is, not who she's trying to be. It's the kind of love you can't put a price on, and even though Lucy had only known it, it's after being with Harry that she actually realized it's the real deal.
In the final scene, John grabs two meals from a halal cart and meets Lucy in the park, bringing their story full circle. As they sit together, he makes her a ring out of a flower and gently slips it on her finger. It's a sweet callback to the cave couple we saw at the start of the film, who symbolized the very first marriage. But instead of a grand proposal, John simply asks with a smile, 'How'd you like to make a very poor financial decision?'
What happens to Harry in the end?
After the breakup, Harry ends up becoming a client at Adore himself, still searching for his 'perfect match.' During their final conversation, Lucy notices scars on his legs and realizes he, too, underwent leg-lengthening surgery to hit that ideal six-foot mark and become the so-called 'unicorn' everyone wants.
Will there be a Materialists sequel?
Materialists will most likely not have a sequel, as the story wraps up neatly with Lucy choosing John in the end. While no follow-up has been announced, a potential sequel could explore Harry's continued search for love.