The Death of Bunny Munro ending explained: Does Bunny go to hell?

The Death of Bunny Munro is a rollercoaster ride, spanning everything from outrageous comedy to disturbingly dark moments, leaving viewers to anxiously question whether the promise of the title will be fulfilled.

In the sixth and final episode, Bunny (Matt Smith) and his son (played by newcomer Rafael Mathé), finally arrive at the beauty product convention they had been heading towards – but there's more than fancy moisturisers to worry about.

Not only has Bunny's behaviour become increasingly reckless and unpredictable, but a mysterious devil-horned killer is stalking the area, after gradually nearing closer over the past five chapters.

Can disaster be averted? Read on for our full explanation and analysis of The Death of Bunny Munro ending – or stream all episodes on Sky Atlantic and NOW if you don't want anything spoiled for you.

The Death of Bunny Munro ending explained: Does Bunny go to hell?

The Death of Bunny Munro lives up to its title, with the emotional series finale depicting a grisly fate for Matt Smith's character – but hope of a better future for his young son.

Bunny had whisked away his nine-year-old, Bunny Jr, on a chaotic road trip around Sussex, under the flimsy premise that he would teach him the tricks of his trade as a door-to-door salesman.

In reality, the impromptu odyssey was utterly self-destructive, seeing Bunny indulge in his addictions to sex, drugs and alcohol, with no regard for the cost to others.

Although Bunny Jr initially saw his father through rose-tinted glasses, those eventually dropped as his behaviour became ever more reckless, clearly exposing the fact that he wasn't capable of raising him alone.

Throughout the series, we had seen menacing news reports of a murderer in a devil costume, whose deadly spree was on a collision course with Bunny and his son; in the end, the older Munro dies after being mown down by the killer's truck.

This is where the show takes a turn for the surreal, with Bunny being guided to an unsettling music lounge filled with faces from his past, including late wife Libby (Sarah Greene).

He finally confronts his mistreatment of her with a rendition of love song You Were Always on My Mind, but the token gesture is too little too late, and cannot offer him the redemption he is now so desperately seeking.

As Libby and others in the lounge make their way upstairs for "a party," Bunny is informed that he's not invited, leaving him alone in the empty venue where the devil tenderly embraces him.

It's apparent that the "horned killer" is not a plot point to be taken at face value, but rather a visual representation of Bunny's worst habits, including his abuse of substances and disregard for people, including those closest to him.

Perhaps he could have heeded the reports of approaching doom and meaningfully changed his ways to avert such a catastrophe, but his continued commitment to hedonism and self-interest made his rendezvous with the devil an inevitability.

Speaking to GQ about how the story ends, author Nick Cave explained: "I don't think that I'm trying to say 'repent'. I believe that what goes on in Bunny Munro's character is in all men.

"It is innate within us – a kind of predatory sexual-ness – just as violence is innate within us. We're born with it. I think we must learn certain other things in order to negotiate ourselves through life, and those things are the better aspects of our character – empathy and intimacy."

Cave added: "I was determined not to write a book about a monster who sees the error of his ways and kind of repents, which is the normal way in which a lot of these novels go. I don't go for the facing up to our faults and the admission of our sins as necessarily a redemptive thing."

In-keeping with this assessment, Bunny gains a kind of self-awareness in death – recognising his faults and the bright promise in his son – but this doesn't absolve him of his total immorality in life.

Whether that means he goes to hell (in the most conventional and mainstream understanding of the term) probably depends on your own philosophical or religious outlook.

Certainly, it's one valid way to interpret the disquieting image of Bunny's lonely dance with the devil. However, the following scene suggests a more purgatorial fate.

We see Bunny in one last conversation with his son, presumably an imagined one, at the same holiday resort where he first absorbed the toxic traits that would follow him for the rest of his life.

He learned these behaviours from watching his own father, Bunny Sr (David Threlfall), as shown by how he mimics the very same hand gestures when approaching a girl at the edge of the swimming pool – resembling the floppy ears of a bunny rabbit.

After the heart-to-heart, Bunny Jr walks off to face a brighter tomorrow, while his father proceeds to sink down into the dark, murky pool, returning to where his path in life became set.

This might represent Bunny's descent to "hell" or, alternatively, an afterlife spent languishing in purgatory, which would reflect his inability to grow or change on the mortal plane.

As a result, the cycle of pain is broken and Bunny Jr gets another chance as he ends up in a caring foster home, which sends him back to school after a prolonged absence.

The Death of Bunny Munro is available on Sky Atlantic and NOW.

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