Netflix's action-comedy Red Notice gives The Rock another new potential franchise, but it also leaves more than a few unanswered questions. Starring Dwayne Johnson, Gal Gadot, and Ryan Reynolds, Red Notice tells the story of the hunt for three eggs said to have once belonged to Cleopatra and the three criminals that are trying to find them - those three criminals being John Hartley (Johnson), Sarah Black (Gadot), and Nolan Booth (Reynolds). This star-studded trio engages in an international caper, as they try to outsmart each other and recover the lost third egg in order to sell the collection to a billionaire for hundreds of millions of dollars.
However, partly due to the considerable twist in the third act, Red Notice's ending leaves one or two threads hanging. John Hartley is introduced as a criminal profiler for the FBI who is tracking renowned art thief Nolan Booth. After being framed as an impostor, Hartley s forces with Booth to recover the eggs and supposedly prove his innocence, except Red Notice's big reveal is that Hartley was actually a criminal all along, and that he was working with Sarah Black - a.k.a. The Bishop - in order to obtain and sell the eggs.
The twist that Hartley had been running one long con might not be an innovative one, but it's a reveal that paints the rest of the film in a different light. However, the problem with the realization that Red Notice's cast of characters has been playing one another all along is that it draws a number of things into question. After all, when a film establishes that all of its characters are professional liars, even the answers it does give can't be trusted. With that in mind, here are the biggest questions that Red Notice leaves unanswered.
What Is The Bishop's Backstory?
Red Notice's ending reveals that The Bishop isn't just one person, but a team - namely, Hartley and Black. Black is an enigma throughout the film, though, and the late reveal that Hartley is her partner only raises more questions about the pair's history. Seeing The Rock team up with Gal Gadot might fulfill DC fans' wildest dreams, but it makes The Bishop's backstory even harder to extrapolate.
An early scene sees Black mentioning that she gratefully owes her skills as a thief to her father, and a late one sees Hartley saying that his hatred for his own father is what drove him to become a con man. Aside from these brief lines, there's very little to explain the characters' backstories, as much of what Hartley says over the film is revealed to be part of his ruse to gain Booth's confidence.
How Did Booth Find Black And Hartley At The End?
Nolan Booth, despite supposedly being the world's greatest thief, is depicted throughout Red Notice as being a little inept. While Ryan Reynolds' comedic charm works in action movies, it means that Nolan Booth is easily duped by Black and Hartley into revealing the location of the third egg. Hartley then reveals his true allegiance and leaves Booth handcuffed to a tree with Interpol closing in. For the film's final scene, though, Booth was able to not only get free but to find and lead Interpol to Black and Hartley, who were hiding out on their yacht in a remote location.
While Red Notice establishes that Booth is good at daring escapes, it doesn't even begin to explain how he was able to track Black and Hartley to their yacht. The film makes no explanation of exactly how Booth knew their location, nor is it clear exactly how he came to be waiting for them as a stowaway in their yacht. As Red Notice is Netflix's most expensive film, some of that $200m budget could have gone on a scene explaining Booth's sudden appearance at the end, but it might be a question for Red Notice 2 to answer.
Why Didn't Interpol Recognize Hartley?
Red Notice opens with Hartley tracking Booth, posing as an FBI criminal profiler working with Interpol. The reveal that this was all part of Hartley and Black's plan raises another question about Hartley's ability to deceive not just Booth but also numerous government agencies. While it's certainly plausible that a seasoned conman would be able to bluff his way past a few Interpol agents, it's a little less plausible when he looks like The Rock.
The Rock is powerfully imposing - he's set to become one of DC's most powerful villains in Black Adam, after all - and he cuts a memorably unique figure. This hardly makes him a master of disguise, though, and the twist that he's actually (partly) behind one of the most renowned names in professional thievery only makes it harder to believe that he could have successfully impersonated an FBI agent for long enough to dupe Interpol's Inspector Das. Exactly how he managed to do so when he was clearly already a renowned criminal is anyone's guess. Maybe this is something that will be addressed in a potential sequel.
What Happened To The Eggs?
Red Notice's whole narrative revolves around stealing and locating Cleopatra's bejeweled eggs, and, by the end, Hartley, Black and Booth have managed to reunite them and sell them on to an Egyptian billionaire. However, in the same scene that Ed Sheeran makes a cameo appearance, Interpol crashes the party and seizes the eggs, arresting the unnamed billionaire for his possession of stolen Nazi loot. After the globe-spanning hunt for the eggs, this begs the question: what exactly will happen to them?
While Red Notice doesn't specifically address the eventual fate of the eggs, there are two likely scenarios. The first is that the eggs are used as evidence against the billionaire (and anyone else Das is able to arrest), and the second is that they eventually end up in a museum. Of course, with the film's three criminals still at large, they may well end up getting stolen all over again.
What Happened to Booth and Hartley's Fathers?
It's revealed that neither Booth nor Hartley ever got much appreciation from their fathers - a little like Red Notice's negative critical reception - but it's never specified exactly what happened to them. A throwaway line reveals that Booth's father died (although it's not specified how), but all three main characters specifically mention their fathers. Given the significance the fathers have to the plot, it seems as though there's more that's yet to be told.
It's possible that the references to Hartley's conman father, Booth's Swiss police captain father, and Black's mysteriously inspiring father are setting up their possible inclusion in Red Notice 2. Of course, with Booth's father supposedly dead, this may not be the case at all, but Red Notice's frequent mention of daddy issues certainly seems to point somewhere. Despite regular mentions of them, Red Notice was pretty vague on their fates, and that may well prove important for the potential sequel.
What Does The Final Scene Mean For Red Notice 2?
Exact details about Red Notice 2 are still largely unknown, but Red Notice's final scene certainly sets up a direct sequel. With Hartley, Booth, and Black all now placed on red notice by Interpol, the three criminals will have to fight to maintain their freedom. The final scene shows Booth blackmailing Black and Hartley into ing him for another heist after alerting Interpol to their location and giving them details of the pair's Cayman Islands bank , allowing the agency to freeze their financial assets.
This paints the picture for a story in which the trio will actually be united against Interpol. They've been left with very few reasons to trust one another after the numerous twists and double-crosses of Red Notice, though. The main characters will likely be at one another throats, and they'll be on the run while trying to execute their biggest score yet.
With Red Notice continuing The Rock's feud with Vin Diesel, The Rock having a new potential action franchise certainly won't hurt his bottom line. Even if Red Notice failed to impress critics, it still had the biggest opening day in Netflix's history, and it's surely captured the streaming giant's full attention. This makes it all the more likely that Red Notice will get a sequel, and Red Notice 2 might be able to answer some of the film's unanswered questions.
