Spirited ending explained

We discuss the ending of the Apple TV+ film Spirited which will contain spoilers.

Spirited is a musical comedy retelling the classic A Christmas Carol starring Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds. In this take on the holiday tale, the three ghosts led by Ferrell’s character are tasked to redeem an unredeemable Clint (Reynolds), a man who made a fortune out of creating social media scandals. As the film progresses, a strong bond is forged between Clint and the Ghost of Christmas Present as both men learn more about the other.

During the haunt, Clint has been less than cooperative throughout the night. He kept interrupting Marley’s cryptic song, he engaged in inappropriate acts with Past and even convinced Present to reveal his deepest darkest secret. As it turned out, Present was actually the ghost of the one and only Ebenezer Scrooge, the only other “unredeemable” the team of ghosts ever took on. As Scrooge passed away within weeks of that fateful Christmas night relayed in the Dickins novella, Present spent centuries worried about turning back into the kind of jerk capable of saying “Good afternoon!” Yet, Clint convinces the ghost to finally take his retirement, go back to Earth and pursue Kimberly.

While Present is enjoying a date with his love interest, Clint gets a visit from the final ghost: Yet-To-Come. The boney ghost shows Clint a bleak version of the future. In it, after his niece took his advice and released a damning video about her class president rival, the boy couldn’t handle all the social media hate and committed suicide. Determined to stop that from happening, Clint runs to the skating rink where his brother and niece are to try and stop her from releasing the video. Luckily, Kimberly got there first and the video never sees the light of day. However, to Present’s dismay, time doesn’t stop and no musical number starts, which means Clint is not redeemed.

Distraught about his failure to redeem an unredeemable Clint, Present decides to jump in front of a bus. But Clint saves his new “bro” at the last minute by pushing him out of the way. As the bus is about to run Clint over, time stops and the Spirited assembly arrives to congratulate him on finally being redeemed. Sadly, as soon as the musical number ends, Clint gets hit by a bus and dies. Instead of going into the light with his sister, Clint asks for a job at the Spirited enterprise.

In the final scenes, we learn that Clint has now become the Ghost of Chrismas Present and is even expanding the operation. He’s spending his afterlife in a long-term relationship with Past and still visits his old friend, Present. Will Farrell’s character has since married Kimberly and the two have two beautiful children. The film ends with Clint and Present’s reprising the song That Christmas Morning Feeling.

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