Warning: This post contains spoilers for The Survivors.
Based on the 2020 novel by Jane Harper, Netflix’s new Australian series The Survivors follows a man named Kieran Elliott (Charlie Vickers) as he returns home to the (fictional) Evelyn Bay, a small coastal community in Tasmania. Fifteen years ago, tragedy struck the town when three people died in an accident—one for which many blame Kieran. When Kieran returns, now with a family of his own, the town is rocked by a murder that threatens to awaken long-dormant secrets.
At the start of the series, the murder of Bronte (Shannon Berry) has thrown Evelyn Bay into chaos. Bronte wasn’t local to Evelyn Bay, but she was a tourist and true crime enthusiast who’d been living there for some time to try and find out what happened to Gabby, the third person who went missing on that fateful day 15 years ago. While the bodies of the two men—Toby and Finn (Kieran’s brother)—were found, Gabby’s body has never been located.
A number of people are considered suspects in Bronte’s murder, including Kieran’s father Brian (Damien Garvey). Brian has dementia, but he’s a prime suspect after his DNA is found on Bronte’s clothing and inside her mouth. But something isn’t adding up, as Brian hardly seems capable of murder, especially in his condition. Thankfully, the finale of The Survivors uncovers the show’s biggest mysteries: the truth behind the disappearance of Gabby and the murder of Bronte.
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What happened to Gabby?
The mystery of Gabby’s whereabouts seemed to get some clarity when Kieran’s girlfriend Mia (Yerin Ha) discovered a photo of her on a boat just before she disappeared. The picture showed Gabby in a bikini drinking a beer on the same boat as Toby and Finn. But Gabby was just 14, and the men were adults, seriously calling into question what happened to Gabby and whether or not Toby and Finn died as heroes or harboring a dark secret.
In the finale, Mia discovers another photograph at the home of George (Don Hany), whose darkroom Bronte had been using to develop her photographs. The photo is of a rock carved with Gabby’s name and a date on it, but the date is unclear. It’s a tradition for those who make it to the nearby treacherous caves to carve their name in the rocks, and if Mia and co. can verify the date, they could prove Finn and Toby’s innocence.
Kieran takes his friend and Toby’s brother Sean (Thom Green) to help him. They get to the rock, but discover that the inscription has been scratched out. Someone else knew Gabby had carved her name and was trying to cover their tracks. Meanwhile, Kieran’s mother, Verity (Robyn Malcolm), goes to see Sean and Toby’s father Julian (Martin Sacks). She’s devastated by the revelation that Gabby was on Toby and Finn’s boat, and is concerned they did something wrong when raising their children. Furious, Julian is adamant that Gabby wasn’t on the boat with Finn and Toby. Stunned by his conviction, Verity asks Julian how he could be so sure.
The person who scratched out Gabby’s name on the rocks turns out to be Sean. It was Sean who used the boat to take Gabby to the caves, so she was never on the boat with Toby and Finn. Gabby was looking for Kieran (whom she had a big crush on), and Sean told her that Kieran was at the caves, agreeing to take Gabby to him. In the caves, Sean tried to kiss her, but she wasn’t interested. Sean became immediately hostile and ran off, abandoning her in the caves. Gabby didn’t know the way out, and since she didn’t have Sean to help her, she drowned in the caves. Sean told his father Julian everything that happened, and he encouraged Sean to cover it up, thus revealing why Julian was so sure that Gabby wasn’t in the boat with two adult men. Julian had already lost a son in the other cave incident, and he couldn’t bear the thought of losing his other son too.
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Who killed Bronte?
Kieran is shocked by Sean’s confession in the caves. He tells Sean he must tell Trish (Catherine McClements), as she’s been trying to discover the truth about her daughter Gabby’s disappearance ever since she vanished. But he refuses. It’s then that Kieran realizes that the flashlight Sean is carrying is one that Bronte had borrowed from Sean, who had gone to Bronte earlier on the night of her death to get his flashlight. Bronte asked Sean if she’d go to the beach with him, as there was supposed to be bioluminescence she wanted to see, but she didn’t want to go alone because she was being stalked. (The finale confirms that the man spying on her was George, who was cautious about his relationships with women after some problems in Melbourne.)
Sean joined her, and Bronte shared her theory about Gabby, believing that Gabby may have been at the caves. Sean freaked out, screaming at her. The Survivors suggests Sean had incel tendencies, claiming that Bronte looked at him like he was worthless, and that it made him feel so small. His whole life, he’d been laughed at, and nobody cared about him. This idea is left frustratingly underdeveloped, but it speaks to his treatment of both Gabby and Bronte. Bronte tries to get away from Sean, screaming for help, but he attacks her, punching her before striking her in the head with the flashlight, killing her. He then drags her body out to sea and runs off, but Brian finds the body on his nightly walk, and brings her back to land, unsuccessfully attempting CPR, which explains why he was an initial suspect in the murder.
Terrified that the truth about killing Gabby and Bronte will be revealed, Sean fights Kieran in the caves, unaware that the police have been tipped off and are in pursuit. Kieran gains the upper hand and starts to strangle Sean, but stops; he’s not a killer. Sean then punches Kieran in the face, and The Survivors cuts to black. Hours later, the police have successfully intervened, arresting Sean and saving Kieran.
The series ends with a memorial for Bronte and Gabby. After 15 years of waiting, Trish is finally able to find closure. Both Trish and Bronte’s parents can begin to heal, though their lives will never be the same again. Perhaps this closure can finally give the people of Evelyn Bay a chance to move forward.
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