The Reading (2023) – What Happened, How It Ended, and What Could Come Next
A summary of how “The Reading” (2023) ended, its major storylines, and whether a prequel or sequel is possible.
Spoiler Alert: This summary and review contains spoilers.
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A summary of how “The Reading” (2023) ended, its major storylines, and whether a prequel or sequel is possible.
| Director(s) | Courtney Glaudé |
| Screenplay By | Courtney Glaudé |
| Based On | N/A |
| Date Released (BET Plus) | February 2, 2023 |
| Noted Cast | |
| Sky Brown | Chasity Sereal |
| Greg | Ian Haywood |
| Emma Leeden | Mo’Nique |
| Matthew Leeden | Cooper Helm |
| Kendall Leeden | Maudejanei Alero |
| Kyren Leeden | Nai Nguyen |
| Ashley Leeden | Lisa Alavi |
| Rachel Gates | Sara Alavi |
This content contains spoilers.
Major Storylines
The Money Issue
Sky and her friends need money. Sky for school, and her friends for reasons, not dove into. Sky, who has psychic abilities, or at least pretends to, acts as a medium after her boyfriend Greg sets up different people for her to swindle.
Emma’s Ruse
Emma was formerly married to a man named Matthew and had a tweenage daughter named Kendall and a five-year-old son named Kyren. Originally, we’re given the impression that a home invasion led to the death of her entire family, and Emma lost a finger after she was viciously beaten. Luckily, despite her injuries, she survived and even wrote a book about the tale.
However, after Emma’s sister-in-law, Ashley sets her up to meet Sky, and Sky reveals she knows too much, including potentially the truth, Emma switches things up. Emma goes from someone who seemingly has a speech impediment and issues walking to running like a linebacker and speaking clear as day. But what do you expect from someone who snapped upon learning her husband was about to lose all of their money?
Because the truth is Emma killed her husband, suffocated her daughter, and drowned her son in the tub. So with Sky likely catching onto the truth, what originally was supposed to be fodder for Emma potentially writing a second book, becomes the second massacre to happen in that house. Emma, who has the best security a person can buy, locks down all doors and windows, grabs a gun and knife, and goes hunting. For if there is one thing she refuses to let happen, it is for all the work she did to maintain her lifestyle go to waste because of her sister-in-law and some kids.
How Did It End?
Things end with Emma almost succeeding in killing everyone, including Sky’s friends and Ashley. However, Sky is able to get a hold of Emma’s gun, and with a bullet Emma dropped, Sky loads the gun and shoots Emma in the head – thus ending her reign of terror.
But, while there was a point we were given the impression Emma was simply crazy, that might be the simplified version. From what Emma tells us, she didn’t want kids. She had them because Matthew wanted them. Hence why, when she decided to kill Matthew, she killed the kids, too, because being a single parent to children she never wanted wasn’t an option.
Now, that is one way of looking at why things went down as they did. The alternative is the potential of a demon or evil spirit. This possibility exists because, ultimately, it does appear Sky has psychic gifts, and she did warn Greg that there have come points during their cons; she has almost been touched by spirits. So one could submit, with there already being something strange about the Leeden household, beyond the limited cell signal, a dark presence was there and inhabited Emma.
Which made it so that when Sky kills Emma and has an open wound on her hand, the entity simply moved from Emma to Sky. This possibility becomes more believable based on the mid-credit scene where we see Sky on the same talk show, hosted by Rachel Gates, that Emma was on, when we reintroduced to her post-attack. On the show, Sky seems normal until she is asked about getting out of the house, and as the scene ends, Sky gives the impression that something is amiss with her, and you can only assume it is whatever inhabited Emma.
Is There Sequel/ Prequel Potential?
Considering how Sky was acting at the end of the movie, during her interview with Rachel, there could be a potential sequel exploring Sky’s life after killing Emma and losing her friends. But, with Mo’nique being such a major player in this film, unless they could get another notable star, it is hard to imagine a sequel being produced.
