The Long Walk Ending Explained: Does Pete Die?

Directed by Francis Lawrence, ‘The Long Walk‘ takes place in a dystopian world where a televised walking competition serves as a platform for young men to test their luck. The winner will get a grand prize that will change their life, in addition to having their one wish fulfilled. The losers will die. 50 young men participate in the contest in hopes of changing their luck, but by the end of the film, most of them fall victim to its grueling nature. And the one who manages to survive in the end is faced with an impossible choice that makes one wonder: Is there really such a thing as a winner in the Long Walk? SPOILERS AHEAD.

The Long Walk Plot Synopsis

Ray Garraty has applied to join the Long Walk, an annual event held to boost public morale and highlight the importance of a strong work ethic. It is the state’s way to distract the country from its bigger problems, a lot of which emerged in the aftermath of a brutal civil war, which has now left the US under a totalitarian regime. With 49 other contestants, Ray will have to maintain a pace of 3 miles/hour and keep walking until everyone else is dead and he is the only one left alive. A contestant will be given three warnings for breaking the rules. They cannot reduce their speed below the set pace. And they cannot stop or stray from the set path under any circumstance.

Failure to abide by the rules will result in three warnings, and the fourth one will come with a gunshot to the head. Ray is dropped at the starting line by his mother, who pleads with him to back out of the race, even as he points out that the deadline to do so has already passed. He must go forward now, as will 49 other young men. One of them is a guy named Pete, who becomes Ray’s good friend over the course of the race. Then there is Stebbins, who is more athletic than most contestants and seems to have extensive knowledge of the walk. There is Art, who lives with his grandma and wishes to make friends.

There is Hank, who seems well-prepared for the walk, and Collie, who doesn’t appear too friendly at first but eventually becomes more amicable. There is Barkovitch, who is there to win the race no matter what and taunts other contestants, which leads Pete and Ray’s group to ostracise him. There is Curly, who is clearly underage but lied about it to enter the contest. When the basic introductions are done, the Major shows up to explain the rules, assign everyone their numbers, and start the race. He encourages the contestants to keep going, but at the same time, he keeps the soldiers on their toes, as they must issue timely warnings and eliminate anyone with three strikes.

As the young men develop a bond over the next few days, their motive for participating in the race also becomes clearer, eventually paving the way for the winner. When the contestants begin the walk, they all know that there can be only one winner. This means that either die or win, so it’s better if they don’t get attached to anyone. Despite this, Ray and Pete form strong friendships with one another and with several other contestants. They try to keep each other alive for as long as possible and are truly heartbroken when, one by one, the others are shot down. They knew how it would end, but it doesn’t make things any easier.

Who Wins the Long Walk? Why does Ray Let Pete Win?

In the end, only three are left: Ray, Pete, and Stebbins. While he had been a strong contender since the beginning, Stebbins falls sick and is in a rather bad shape by the end. He reveals that he is one of the Major’s many illegitimate children, and that his winning wish would have been to be admitted to his father’s house. However, over the course of the race, he has realized that he was just a rabbit, a pacesetter for the race, and the Major never really cared about him. He also knows his health will worsen, especially since it looks like it’s going to rain. He knows he will not last another night and prefers to go down while he still has some dignity left. So, he stops and is eliminated. This leaves Ray and Pete, and both know that one has to die for the other to win.

Since they have become good friends, neither wants the other to die, but if neither gives up, the race will never end, and they will have to keep walking until one or both of them can no longer keep it up. So, Pete decides to back down. He is motivated by the fact that Ray has an actual, personal reason to win, and after all that has happened, it is only fair that he should be allowed to have revenge for his father’s death. However, Ray refuses to let his friend die. If it weren’t for Pete, Ray would have been eliminated long ago. He saved Ray from dying at least three times, so he is merely returning the favor when he forces him to keep walking. However, as soon as Pete goes forward, Ray stops and is eliminated.

Pete is horrified to watch his friend die, but Ray tells him that he couldn’t see what Pete could. This refers to their earlier conversation, in which, when Ray reveals that he would kill the Major if he got his wish, Pete tries to dissuade him. He tells Ray that anger, violence, and revenge are not the way to make the world a better place, which is what he wants to do when he gets the money. Over time, Pete also proves himself to be someone who always sees the good in people. If it weren’t for him and his kindness, not only would Pete have died, but he would have also remained so focused on the idea of revenge that he would have lost his humanity and wouldn’t have become friends with other contestants.

In Pete, Ray sees all that is good about the world, which is what he once saw in his father. By the end, he truly believes that Pete should be the winner because he is not motivated by any personal vendetta. Instead, he actually wants to change the world for the better, and that’s the kind of person who is needed right now. So, he sacrifices himself for the greater good, hoping that Pete’s win will lead him to do all the things he had planned, and hopefully, stop the Long Walk and save other young men and their families from such a gruesome and barbaric fate.

Is the Major Dead? Why does Pete Kill Him?

While Pete changes Ray’s perspective on the world, his own shifts dramatically. He starts the race as someone who has suffered enough and wishes to ease, if not end, the suffering of others. He likes to bring people together and brings out the best in them. However, watching his friends die starts to chip away at him slowly, even though he knew what he had signed up for. His friendship with Ray keeps him walking. He had already submitted to his fate, knowing there was a good chance he wasn’t going to make it back when he arrived at the start line. When he learns the reason Ray entered the race, he tries to change his friend’s mind, but over time, he comes to understand where Ray is coming from.

In the end, when only two of them are left, Pete decides to give up and let Ray win so he can avenge his father by killing the Major. Ray’s father had tried to raise his son with the things the totalitarian regime didn’t approve of. Ray had watched his father being killed right in front of his eyes by the Major. He knew that the race was the only way for him to get close enough to an otherwise untouchable figure and kill him. By the end, Pete understands, even if he doesn’t entirely agree with it, what Ray means to do. However, Ray flips the board by sacrificing himself, leaving Pete shocked and heartbroken. In that moment, he feels the intense grief for losing a great friend, as well as anger at the regime for his death, as well as that of 48 other contestants.

He is horrified to see that Ray’s death is being celebrated by the country, who are singing songs and bursting firecrackers. In this moment, Ray’s words about the regime practically forcing everyone in the country to sign up for the Long Walk resonate with him. So, when he is asked about his one wish, he can think of nothing else but to kill the man in front of him, whom he holds responsible for all the cruelty and bloodshed he has experienced over the past few days. So, he asks for a carbine and points it at the Major, who warns him not to do anything rash and squander the prize waiting for him. Pete’s mind, however, has been clouded by grief, loss, and pain, and so, he kills the Major, seeing it as a way to honor Ray’s memory.

What Happens to Pete? Does He Die?

While the winner of the Long Walk is granted one wish, there are limits on what the regime will allow. When Pete mentions he will use his wish to change things, Hank points out that, according to the rulebook, he cannot ask for anything that impacts the current state of politics. In the same vein, it is clear that the winner cannot wish for someone’s death. Murder is still a crime, and no matter what a person has lost in the course of the race, they cannot allow the winner to kill someone. So, even as Pete points the gun at the Major, the latter reminds him that pulling the trigger will undo everything. He knows that Pete’s desire was to do something good for the world, and if he commits murder, that wish will go down the drain, and all his sacrifices will be for naught.

So, though Pete is allowed to have a gun, when he points it at the Major, all the soldiers instantly point their guns at him, ready to shoot him down. The Major tries to de-escalate the situation and tells his men to lower their weapons, but Pete shows no inclination to change his mind. He ends up shooting the Major, but as soon as that happens, the entire crowd surrounding him, including the soliders disappear. All the noise of celebrations fades away, and as he looks forward, there is nothing but an empty road ahead, and he starts walking it without looking back. This most likely means that he has been shot down by the soldiers and is dead. While they were told to stand down by the Major, his getting shot would have established Pete as a clear danger.

Moreover, the punishment for murder is most likely death, and even if they arrested Pete, he would have been executed sooner or later. With this, he also would have forfeited all of his winnings, which is what the Major tried to remind him about. Had Pete not taken the shot, he could have stood by his initial intention and used the cash prize and the wish to make the world a better place. He would have been able to keep the promise to his friends, where they’d decided that whoever won would send some money to Hank’s wife. He could have kept the promise to Art and given his rosary to his grandmother. But none of this happens because, in the end, in the heat of the moment, he chooses a different path, which ends with his death, proving there are no winners in the Long Walk.

Read More: Where Was The Long Walk Filmed? All Shooting Locations