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After reading the eighth and final script of Haley Z. Boston’s new horror series, Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen, multiple people told the writer that they decided to break up with their significant other. That’s because the finale hinges on a chilling idea: What happens when you realize the person you’re about to marry might not be your soulmate?

“I was like, ‘Whoa, that’s powerful, I was just writing what felt true to me,’ ” Boston tells Tudum. “That’s the best thing I could ever hear, if it’s affecting you, and you’re taking something from the theme of the show, I think that’s what it’s all about.”

So what is it about the show’s finale that’s been causing a real-life schism in multiple relationships? Let’s start with the bloody wedding, a generational curse, and a deeply grounded portrayal of romance gone wrong. Over the course of her wedding week, Rachel (Camila Morrone) discovers that her bloodline has a terrifying condition built into its gene pool. On her wedding day, if she doesn’t marry someone she truly believes is her soulmate by sundown, she’ll bleed to death — and if she fails to marry at all, the curse will spread to her fiancé’s family.

As the clock ticks, Rachel must unravel her family’s doomed history, all while grappling with her own relationship with Nicky (Adam DiMarco), which isn’t quite what it seems. Old wounds surface, truths are revealed, and Rachel and Nicky are forced to face uncomfortable realities about each other. 

Read on for Boston’s full breakdown of the ending, with Morrone and DiMarco helping unpack Rachel and Nicky’s relationship, the curse, and what lies ahead for Rachel.

Wait — what’s this curse?

Let’s go back several hundred years. A bride and groom are heading to the altar when the groom unexpectedly dies. Heartbroken, the bride begs Death to bring her love back to life. Death agrees to answer her plea on one condition: Every future generation in her family has to marry their soulmate by sundown on their wedding day or else bleed to death. Desperate to get her fiancé back, she takes the deal. 

Years pass, and one member of her family finds himself at a crossroads. He’s engaged and — unsure if his partner is his soulmate — he decides not to marry her. As such, the curse also takes root in her bloodline. The groom, now known as The Witness (Zlatko Burić), is forced to attend every wedding in her family for generations to come. He decides to make a cruel sport out of it, collecting trinkets from each bloody wedding, and serving as a creepy, looming figure during the doomed nuptials. 

Which brings us to Rachel. She’s the descendant of The Witness’s fiancée and subject to terrifying ramifications if she doesn’t marry her soulmate by sundown. As seen in Episode 4, Rachel’s mother (Victoria Pedretti) had a bloody death because Rachel’s father wasn’t her soulmate. 

On top of that, Rachel discovers Nicky’s entire family will become infected by the curse if she doesn’t tie the knot with him. The big question is: What exactly qualifies someone as a soulmate? Within this universe, it means that you have to believe the person is your soulmate, with no lingering doubt. 

By the way, there is a loophole to all this! If someone in the cursed family never gets engaged or never intends to marry, they can avoid triggering the curse themselves. They still carry it, and they’d still pass it on to any children, but they personally won’t face the sundown deadline. Unfortunately, no one has informed Rachel about this exception, and she’s stuck in her family’s deadly merry-go-round. 

How does Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen end?

After considering drinking a potion that could potentially guarantee she is Nicky’s soulmate, Rachel decides to put all her faith in her fiancé and doesn’t imbibe. As she walks down the aisle, she feels certain that Nicky is the one for her, choosing not to annihilate herself to fit the “perfect bride” mold, instead trusting her own belief. 

“She is torn. There’s doubt, but in that moment, there’s enough evidence in her mind to say, ‘I think he is my soulmate,’ ” Morrone explains. “There are things that could throw her off about their dynamic, but overall, based on evidence and fate, she wants to believe in love.”

Nicky, however, is having doubts. He recently learned that his mother cheated on his father and is suddenly questioning the very concept of marriage. “It definitely shatters his worldview,” DiMarco tells Tudum on the revelation. “It makes him reexamine everything. … He starts to question the concept of marriage and the foundational beliefs he’s built his whole idea system on. Unfortunately, it happens at the wrong time for Rachel.” 

Despite Rachel warning Nicky that calling off their wedding would cause catastrophic damage to his family, he tells her he doesn’t want to get married, dismissing her warning because he still doesn’t believe the curse is real. “I don’t think he’s a bad guy; he did what he felt was right,” Boston says. “If Rachel wasn’t cursed, it would’ve been the right decision, because she never wanted to get married. If only he’d done it months ago and not right there at the altar.”

That moment changes everything. As sundown approaches, not only is Rachel not getting married, but she no longer believes Nicky is her soulmate. He’s been completely dismissive about the curse and — because he doesn’t believe her — she loses faith in her fiancé. “That’s the biggest betrayal and heartbreak for her,” Morrone says, pointing to that as the moment Rachel understands Nicky isn’t her soulmate. “She realizes, ‘You’ve never believed me about anything. You don’t see me at all. You don’t understand me. You’re like a stranger.’ ” 

The first part of the curse finally fires: It spreads to Nicky’s bloodline, cursing his relatives. From that point on, any of them who are married and don’t truly believe their spouse is their soulmate begin to bleed to death. In a desperate attempt to stop the carnage, Nicky marries Rachel, rushing through his vows and completing the ceremony even though the curse has already spread. “He’s desperate. He doesn’t know who to believe. … He’s lost,” DiMarco says of Nicky’s state of mind. “He’s just trying to do the right thing and failing miserably at every moment.” That confusion has been building all along — Nicky’s inability to fully grasp Rachel’s fear or articulate his own disbelief only deepens the surrounding chaos. “You realize he’s someone who doesn’t really know what he wants, and he’s doing everything because other people are putting pressure on him,” Boston says. 

Rachel dies because she winds up marrying someone she doesn’t believe is her soulmate. And in an unexpected twist, she’s reborn as The Witness, forced to attend every wedding in Nicky’s family’s bloodline for generations to come. 

After her rebirth, Rachel shares a final goodbye with Nicky, who’s last seen clutching a teddy bear in bed, having watched nearly his entire extended family die a very bloody death. “It’s shock, a feeling of being catatonic or spent, like you’re living in a nightmare and you haven’t woken up yet,” DiMarco says of Nicky’s feelings at that moment. “His whole psyche and soul have been flipped inside out. That’s why he’s grabbing the teddy bear — it’s all he’s got to hold onto.” 

Bored and annoyed, she asks him where her lighter is before walking out of his life forever. “That scene is one of my favorite scenes in the whole show,” Boston says. “I remember thinking, ‘How do I close these characters out?’ The show is about a breakup, ultimately. After you break up, there’s that moment of logistics. … At this point, Rachel is exhausted, and she’s just trying to get out of there.” Adds Boston, “It felt like the perfect ending for them.”

For Morrone, that final exchange underscores the gap between them. “There’s a difference between having a lot of love and someone being your person,” she says. “Rachel’s person would wholeheartedly understand her, believe her neuroticism and skepticism, and hold space for her. … Nicky loves her and wants to, but he doesn’t actually understand.”

Why exactly does Rachel become The Witness? 

The Witness becomes The Witness when they allow the curse to spread to another bloodline — just like Rachel did. Her eternal punishment is to attend every subsequent wedding in Nicky’s family, for generations to come.

In the finale, the original Witness has his “last supper” in the bloody reception hall and quietly dies at his table, released from his centuries-long bookkeeping job as the torch is officially passed to Rachel. She’s free from Nicky, and her new immortal life is about to begin — one that, as Morrone sees it, isn’t entirely bleak. “I think it’s a second chance at life,” she says.

The idea of Rachel turning into The Witness didn’t come to Boston until late in the writing process. “We talked about every possible ending,” she says. “Should Nicky die? Should they not get married? We went through everything.”

She continues, “Ultimately, I liked this idea of a death and a rebirth, and in order to get the rebirth, it felt natural that there was a mythological answer.”

It’s not a totally happy ending for Rachel, though. She still needs to be cautious when it comes to love. “She has the curse, so she’s not off the hook, she has to be careful if she ever wants to get married and who she chooses,” Boston says. 

Why do some wedding guests die and others don’t?

Once the curse spreads to Nicky’s bloodline, his relatives don’t all die automatically. It turns lethal only for the ones who are both in his bloodline and married, and who don’t truly believe their spouse is their soulmate. Nicky, Boris (Ted Levine), and Jules (Jeff Wilbusch) all live because they think their respective partners are their soulmates. Portia (Gus Birney) and Victoria (Jennifer Jason Leigh) bleed to death because they don’t. Nell (Karla Crome), Nicky’s sister-in-law, isn’t part of Nicky’s family bloodline, so she’s safe, and Jude (Sawyer Fraser), Nicky’s nephew, survives for now because he’s still unmarried — though he now carries the curse. 

Boston enjoyed planting the surprise reveal that Jules — who is frequently seen arguing with Nell — actually believes his wife is his soulmate. “I like that little twist,” she says. “It’s a recurring theme that they’re always honest with each other, and that was the little Easter egg in there, that’s why their relationship actually works.”

Rachel, meanwhile, initially dies because she married someone whom she doesn’t believe is her soulmate after already failing to marry by sundown. She’s brought back to life because she must fulfill the second tenet of the supernatural curse: to observe each and every wedding of the family she curses. 

What happened to Rachel’s mother? 

Rachel’s mother, Alexandra Harkin (Pedretti), haunts the series even before we know her name. In Episode 4, Rachel finally “meets” her through a grainy VHS wedding tape: a home video her father, Jay (Josh Hamilton), shot on the road in 1997. On the tape, Alexandra is heavily pregnant, joking about baby names, teasing Jay, and talking directly to “baby Rachel” in her belly as they drive to a rental cabin where they plan to get married. She’s warm, funny, and clearly superstitious — she gets bad vibes from the Coldies custard guy, has recurring nightmares about the cabin, and admits she has a terrible feeling that “something bad” will happen if she goes through with the wedding. Even in these brief glimpses, the parallels between mother and daughter are unmistakable. “You feel a lot of similar energy between Rachel and her mom in Episode 4,” Morrone says. “Her mom maybe has more lightheartedness and positivity, and Rachel’s a bit heavier.”

In the cabin, Alexandra’s terrible feeling comes true in the worst possible way. On the tape, she suddenly starts bleeding — first from her nose, then from her ears and eyes — during what should be her first dance. Jay frantically calls 911, but by the time help can arrive, Alexandra is lying in a pool of blood on the cabin floor. The baby in her belly is still moving, and in a panicked, brutal act of love, Jay uses his Leatherman to cut the baby out and save her life. Rachel is literally born in blood as her mother dies on camera.

In the present day, when Jay finally shows her this tape, Rachel sees for the first time that her life began in the same kind of horrific, wedding‑day bleeding that now threatens her. The experience is as clarifying as it is devastating. “It comes full circle for her,” Morrone says. “She’s able to understand what happened to her mother. … It validated this gut instinct Rachel’s always had on some level, that she’s different.” Watching Alexandra’s final moments doesn’t just explain Rachel’s fear — it connects her to the mother she never knew. “It’s less isolating,” Morrone adds. “She’s not going to let this be her story.”

That connection is something Rachel has been craving her entire life. “Rachel’s longing for her mother, yearning for that womb-like connection … it’s a massive hole in her heart,” Morrone says. “She wishes she knew who her mother was.” And in the end, that revelation reframes everything, including her relationship with Nicky. “My dad didn’t believe my mother, and look what happened to her,” Morrone explains of Rachel’s mindset. “That’s really what it comes down to … ‘You don’t believe me.’ ”

How exactly did they shoot that bloody wedding scene? 

From the start, Boston always had an image in her head of people spontaneously bleeding from every orifice. Her vision came to life courtesy of VFX and special effects. The fake blood itself was “very sticky,” and it was difficult to walk around the set, because shoes would get stuck to the floor.  

“We had so many blood meetings and blood tests and [conversations about] the special effects tubes versus VFX,” Boston tells Tudum. “We shot that sequence last, of course, because the whole set was full of blood, which it was incredible to see.”

Adds the creator, “I was known for just constantly saying, ‘It’s not enough blood, it’s not enough blood, more blood.’ ”

What do all those foxes represent?

Foxes pop up throughout the series, starting with a gruesome scene involving a dead pregnant creature and her deceased unborn babies. As the series progresses, we encounter a fox hunt held by Nicky’s family, in which one of the animals chews itself out of a trap. In the end, we spot a fox who runs wildly around the woods, free at last. 

“When I was writing the pilot, the fox in the bathroom just felt right to me. It represented Rachel’s origin story,” Boston tells Tudum. “When we were writing Episode 6 and there’s the fox hunt, that’s where it was solidified. … I [liked] the idea of using this animal to represent how she’s feeling at different points in the story.”

Across the season, the fox becomes a kind of emotional stand‑in for Rachel — cornered, wounded, and eventually willing to do something drastic to escape. Plus, Boston adds, “A fox is an interesting, mysterious animal, so it fits within the world.”

What happens to Rachel once she becomes the Witness? 

Don’t expect Rachel to be — for lack of a better word — as big a jerk as her predecessor.

“I think she is probably a bit more empathetic,” Boston says. “She’d work harder to end the curse, find another way, make sure people are prepared so that they don’t end up in this situation, whereas the [previous] Witness was having fun with it. I think she would have less fun with it.”

Morrone echoes that idea, imagining a version of Rachel who uses the role with intention. “It’d be interesting to see where Rachel takes it and how she uses her power,” she says. “I think she would do good and warn people, like she warns Jude in the finale: ‘Be really careful who you choose to marry.’ … You’re never really sure how much you know someone.”

All eight episodes of Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen are now streaming, only on Netflix.

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