Ewan McGregor Says Film Could Have Ended Much Darker

Ewan McGregor, the actor who played Greg in The End of Oak Street, said the movie’s first ending was far darker than what we saw in theaters. He told USA Today that the original script would have sent the family through a wormhole and dropped them far into the past. Instead of coming back to today, they would have stayed with early settlers. That would have left Greg dead and the family without a clear hope.

In that version, Denise, her daughter Audrey and son Brian would have been taken many years back. They would have lived among the first people who settled the area. Greg would have remained gone, and the story would have ended on a very sad note. The film would have closed with the family struggling in a primitive world.

The directors decided to change the ending because they wanted a more hopeful tone. They rewrote the scene so Denise uses the time portal to pull Greg back into the present. Now the family can keep him safe and move forward together. The released cut shows a brighter finish with Greg alive.

Even though the movie looks happy on the surface, the new ending still leaves room for other possibilities. If the family had taken a different path, another timeline could have shown them suffer instead. That lingering doubt adds a layer of complexity to the story. It makes viewers think about how small choices can change outcomes.