Cast Away Ending Explained: Time Stops For No One

Considering the Tom Hanks drama "Cast Away" has been parodied to hell and back thanks to his friendship with a volleyball named Wilson, many have forgotten that this is a genuinely great movie about the perseverance of humanity, the need for companionship, what makes life worth living, and the tenacity of the human survival spirit. 

Directed and produced by Robert Zemeckis, "Cast Away" sees Tom Hanks as a FedEx troubleshooter named Chuck Noland who finds himself stranded on an island after his plane crashes into the ocean. FedEx packages (and the body of the pilot) soon wash ashore, and Chuck must utilize the items arriving on the beach as well as the island elements and wildlife to survive. Chuck spends the next four years alone on the island, every day a new attempt at survival. 

The ending of "Cast Away" is not about Chuck's survival, instead focusing on the aftermath of his reunion with his loved ones — namely, his girlfriend Kelly, who he saw as his biggest motivator for survival. But what does it all mean?

"Cast Away" begins in 1995, with Chuck leaving his live-in girlfriend Kelly Frears (Helen Hunt) during a Christmas dinner on a work emergency. Kelly gives him her grandfather's pocket watch locket, which contains her photograph and Chuck gives her a box to open on New Year's Eve when he's anticipated to return. Of course, as is necessary for the plot, Chuck's plane crashes and he ends up on an uninhabited island with only the FedEx packages that wash ashore to keep him company. At first, he leaves the packages unopened, not wanting to disrespect their intended recipients. But he has a change of heart after he cuts his leg on a coral reef attempting to reach a passing ship in the distance; realizing that the hope of rescue is slim to none, he begins opening the packages.

Well, all of the packages except one with golden angel wings printed on it.

Chuck's days are spent not only trying to survive but also keeping himself occupied. It's when he cuts his hand attempting to start a fire that he throws objects from within the packages in frustration, and after his bloodied hand lands on the Wilson volleyball, he famously turns the object into his companion. At one point he extracts an infected tooth with a rock and an ice skating blade as a means of survival. Chuck spends a long, agonizing four years on the island until a piece of the shell of a port-a-potty randomly washes up on the island. Using all of the materials he can get his hands on, he configures a raft and stocks it up with supplies and the unopened FedEx package.

Tragically, Wilson falls off the raft in transit, floating away, and leaving Chuck to mourn the loss of his only companion. Chuck is eventually rescued by a passing cargo ship and is brought home.

When Chuck returns to civilization for the first time in four years, he is desperate to reunite with his girlfriend Kelly. Unfortunately, upon arrival, Chuck discovers that he was presumed dead, and Kelly has moved on. Not only was Chuck stranded on the island physically, but with survival as his sole motivator for existence, he was a man lost in time. Chuck spent his days longing for his reunion with Kelly, but with her understanding that he had likely not survived the plane crash, Kelly's time was spent mourning the love of her life and moving on.

When Chuck finally reunites with Kelly, she has since married a man named Jerry (Chris Noth) and started a family. Kelly is understandably shocked to see Chuck alive and explained that despite her belief that he was alive, her friends and family convinced her that he was likely dead, and encouraged her to move forward. The two exchange back the family heirloom with Kelly's picture in it, and kiss in his car. It almost seems like Kelly is ready to run away with Chuck, but there's a somber acceptance that Kelly has a family now, and she and Chuck cannot be together.

In addition to his love for Kelly, Chuck felt a sense of hope tied to a FedEx package decorated with angel wings. The symbology of the angel wings on the package prevented Chuck from opening it and saw it as a sign that he was destined to deliver the package. After the realization of Kelly's new life, he sets out on a journey to Texas to deliver the unopened package. When no one answers the door, he leaves the package along with a note saying the package "saved his life." After leaving the house, he comes to a crossroads, and a woman in a pickup truck gives him directions:

"Well, that's 83 South. And this road here will hook you up with I-40 East. Um ... if you turn right, that'll take you to Amarillo, Flagstaff, California. And if you head back that direction, you'll find a whole lot of nothin' all the way to Canada."

As she drives away, Chuck sees the back of the woman's truck has painted on angel wings. Chuck walks to the intersection and stares down the open road before the film cuts to the credits. With nothing holding him back, and no relationship to return to, Chuck is at a literal and metaphorical crossroads in his life, his options limitless. His survival was possible because he listened to signs from the universe (like a tree branch that broke when he contemplated taking his own life), and this was the universe speaking again.

While we don't actually see what was in the package in the film, a draft of the script reveals that the package contained two homemade jars of green salsa and a letter from a woman attempting to save a failing marriage. "You said our life was a prison. Dull. Boring. Empty. I can't begin to tell you how much that hurt. I don't want to lose you," the letter states. "I'm enclosing some salsa, the verde you like. Use it on your sticky rice and think of home. Then come home to me. We'll find the spice in our lives again. Together. I love you always. Bettina."

From this information, it's implied that because the package never made it, Bettina's marriage did not work out, and she's now a single woman, meaning Chuck's relationship is not the only one to have ended as a result of the plane crash. However, this would have made the ending of the film far less ambiguous, as it would not only telegraph the idea that Chuck would end up with Bettina, but it would also make the very strange implication that Chuck being stranded on an island for four years was a good thing because it brought him to the real love of his life.

The creative team was wise not to pursue this ending.

"Cast Away" is constantly playing with symbolism — namely, the clock and the angel wings. Chuck holds the stopwatch with Kelly's photo in it dearly, a motivator for his survival. But the clock doesn't work. It's a stopped clock. He doesn't realize it at the time, but Chuck's time (no pun intended) with this clock has run its course. It's not that it's broken, it's just run its course. He and Kelly's relationship has run its course just the same.

Meanwhile, there are the angel wings. Angels are often symbols of hope, guardians that look down to keep us safe. At the same time, throughout theology, angels are also viewed as messengers. As someone who works for FedEx, Chuck effectively works as both a hopeful protector in ensuring the safekeeping of packages, and also as a messenger, as these deliveries carry information as well. By Chuck taking care of the package of angel wings, he was effectively taking care of himself.

And then there's the title. A shipwrecked survivor is described as a "castaway," one word, while this film's title is two words: "Cast Away," implying that this is a story about the acting of casting, or throwing, something away. Chuck is casting away his former life, and looking ahead toward something new. 

While Tom Hanks hasn't outright discussed the film's ending at length, in 2001 he spoke to ABC News about the film and said, "It's about a different brand of loneliness that is very different from being home on a Saturday night with nothing to do. He's completely removed from any of the distractions that fill up our lives." He concluded, "That's where Chuck begins to crack and begins to lose the battle of his own desperation." By surviving the island, he is able to survive his own desperation. By not ending up with Kelly at the end, it's a poignant and mature look at the ways circumstances and timing also impact the success of a relationship. Chuck's desire to return to Kelly was vital to his survival, and not ending up with her in the end doesn't negate any of that. At the same time, Kelly moving on does not make Chuck any less important in her life, but mourning him and moving on was a necessary part of maintaining her own sanity.

In a cruel bit of irony, the man Kelly ends up with is a dentist — the one who was supposed to perform a root canal for Chuck's tooth when he got back from his work trip, but Chuck had to extract himself on the island. All of the threads of Chuck's life before the plane crash are tied up, and by his being declared "dead" while away, he's essentially been given a new lease on life.

Kelly was not the only thing he was surviving for. The wings on the package kept him going as well. By meeting the woman in a truck at a literal crossroads, with angel wings painted on the truck, it's a hopeful sign that Chuck is being given the chance to start anew, and with desperation in the rearview, he's taking it.