Tamal Kundu
Amazon Prime Video’s ‘The Rig’ is set on the fictional Kinloch Bravo oil rig, where a significant part of the crew is set to return home because of the rotation but suddenly discovers that various things around them are malfunctioning. When a mysterious fog descends on the rig, it brings something that time has forgotten. As the crew members face a life-and-death situation, the two people in charge, Magnus MacMillan (Iain Glen), the Offshore Installation Manager and the leader of the crew stationed there, and Rose Mason (Emily Hampshire), geologist and Pictor Energy executive, must assert their control over the situation before it devolves into utter chaos, and they lose people under their command. If you are wondering whether Magnus and Rose survive the ordeal, we got you covered. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Magnus’ Fate in The Rig
No, Magnus doesn’t die at the end of ‘The Rig.’ As OIM, Magnus is in charge of everyone on the platform. He has spent decades doing the job and garnered his share of detractors. For instance, Lars Hutton believes he can be a better leader, though most people consider him bitter and angry. Later in the series, we learn Magnus lost his son in an accident while he was still deployed at the rig. Magnus blames himself for the incident as he chose to take care of his professional family at the expense of his personal one, and it cost him his son. We know that he is separated. Most marriages do not last after such a devastating loss. It’s probably safe to presume Magnus’ marriage fell apart after the death of his son.
As the crisis starts to unfold, each death reminds Magnus of the helplessness he felt when he heard that his son was dead. He continues to persevere, leading the team from the control room, but sometimes, the cracks in his composure become visible, and the others can see him for the broken man he is. After learning that they are dealing with an ancient organism that probably caused all the massive global extinctions, Magnus is one of the few who hold on to the hope that a peaceful resolution of the situation is possible. However, his actions are perceived as inaction by the increasingly terrified crew, and they stop having the trust they usually have in their leader. This only increases following the arrival of Coake, a company man who seems to know exactly what the organism is from the beginning.
When crew members such as Dunlin, Hutton, and Murch, who have worked under Magnus for decades, suddenly decide to listen to Coake, it ends in disaster. Dunlin is killed along with one of the crew members infected by the spores of the organism. In the end, Magnus and the others realize that they are too late to convince the organism that humanity is friendly. They don’t follow Coake’s suggestion and attempt to kill it either. As a titanic wave engulfs the rig, Magnus is one of those who escape from there in a helicopter.
Rose Makes a Shocking Discovery
No, Rose doesn’t die at the end of the Rig. She was originally sent to decommission the platform and tell the crew that they will be either fired or retrained to work with a more sustainable energy source. After the crew learns about this, the few friends she has among them start to disappear. The matter is further complicated because of her relationship with Fulmer, the communication officer on the rig.
With the help of the medic present on the platform, Rose begins to discover the nature of the organism, which they refer to as the Ancestor, as they deduce that the entity can be a very distant ancestor of humanity while being the cause of all the mass extinctions in world history. She comes to believe that the Ancestor is probably spread across surfaces of multiple oceans, and it will be nigh impossible to kill. However, the efforts to convince the Ancestor that it can co-exist with humanity fail and Rose is one of the people to leave the rig on a helicopter. Once on board, Coake reveals they are not heading to the mainland. The implication is that the mainland might no longer exist, and they are bound for a Pictor Energy or British government safe zone.
Read More: Is Kinloch Bravo a Real Oil Rig? Is Pictor Energy a Real Company?
