Kurt Russell and John Carpenter Discussed the Ending of The Thing "For a Long, Long Time"

More than four decades after he blew Outpost 31 all the way to kingdom come, Kurt Russell once again found himself confronting a horrific monster in the snow for an episode of Apple TV+'s Monarch: Legacy of Monsters series. As you can imagine, the actor's return to frigid pastures has officially set The Thing community ablaze, with many fans of the John Carpenter classic noting that Legacy of Monsters may be the closest we'll ever get to a sequel featuring the whisky-guzzling, flamethrower-toting helicopter pilot, R.J. MacReady.

MTV's Josh Horowitz brought up the similarities between the two projects during a recent conversation with Russell, before probing the seasoned Hollywood veteran about The Thing's ambiguous and much-debated ending. While the actor didn't have much to offer to the argument over who was a human and who was an alien, Russell did reveal that he and Carpenter agonized over how to conclude the story.

Kurt Russell talks about the ambiguous ending of John Carpenter's The Thing

"John and I talked about the ending of that movie for a long, long time. We'd trade ideas for the end," he said. "John was concerned about doing a movie that you would see for two hours plus and bring you back to square one. We tried different things and I just remember finally saying, 'John, I think this comes back to square one. I think that's what it does.' The only thing I could do was finish it with, 'Why don't we just sit here for a while and see what happens?' It was the thing that it called for."

And he was right. The Thing probably wouldn't be half as iconic as it is today had it featured a more clear-cut ending (an alternate scene of MacReady being rescued was filmed, but has since been lost). The endless deliberation over the fates of MacReady and Childs (Keith David) is what keeps the legacy alive. "It's fun to hear people talk about that one," Russell added. "I must say, that's a fun one."

Carpenter, meanwhile, continues to assert that he knows who was assimilated and who was still human, but vows to take the secret to his grave. "I know, but I'm not telling you ... I just feel like it's a secret that must be kept," he told SYFY WIRE when we spoke with the filmmaking legend in honor of the movie's 40th anniversary. "The gods came down and swore me to secrecy."

The Thing is now streaming on Peacock.