Warning: SPOILERS for Palm Springs.
Hulu’s Palm Springs ending involves some science and a time loop, and here’s an explanation of how the film ends. Produced by The Lonely Island, Palm Springs started to gain recognition in early 2020 following its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. It was at the festival that early buzz on the comedy, starring Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti, proved to be very high and resulted in the film setting a Sundance sales record when Neon and Hulu acquired it.
Palm Springs was scheduled to be a summer release in theaters, but coronavirus changed these plans. The movie is now available to stream on Hulu and can be seen in select drive-in theaters. Now, a wide audience has access to see Palm Springs, which follows Samberg’s character Nyles and Milioti’s character Sarah as they are stuck in a time loop. Each day begins at Sarah’s sister’s wedding on November 9th. While Nyles is already in the loop when Palm Springs starts, Sarah accidentally gets stuck when she follows Nyles and Roy (JK Simmons), who is also stuck in the loop due to Nyles and trying to kill him, into a mysterious cave in the desert.
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Once Sarah realizes she’s in a time loop, she and Nyles grow closer as they spend what could be an eternity living the same day over and over again. They pull pranks, drink, party, and do whatever else they feel like before the day resets. Eventually, this relationship turns romantic, which proves to be a breaking point. It is revealed Sarah slept with her sister’s fiance the night before and wakes up in his bed every time the loop resets, and she learns that Nyles lied to her about them never hooking up before her time in the loop began. This causes Sarah to stop seeing Nyles and find a way to break the loop, setting up Palm Springs’ ending.
What Happens In Palm Springs’ Ending
The Palm Springs ending sees Sarah suddenly return to Nyles’ life after he hit a low-point. While he confesses his love for her, she tells him that she’s found a way to break the loop. Sarah’s plan gives them one more day in the loop before their possible exit (or death), but Nyles initially doesn’t want to leave. He goes to a bar while Sarah attends her sister’s wedding and gives a loving speech, resulting in the wedding going well for the first time. Sarah then goes to the cave in the desert to execute her plan, and Nyles shows up at the last second. They enter the cave together and manage to break the time loop. Nyles and Sarah are shown on November 10th, enjoying a day by the pool (until the homeowners return) and begin figuring out what to do now.
How Nyles And Sarah Break The Time Loop
So, how exactly do Nyles and Sarah break Palm Springs‘ time loop? The simple explanation of the plan is that they will enter the cave and blow themselves up. When they enter the cave, there is a 3.2-second window when they are being taken from the end of November 9th back to the beginning. After studying quantum physics, Sarah has a theory that if they blow themselves and the cave up during that window, the explosion will propel them outside of the ”box of energy” they are trapped in. The only issue with Sarah’s Quantum theory is that she is not sure where they will end up. She believes that it could take them to November 10th, twenty years into the future, or even kill them. The good news for Nyles and Sarah is that the best-case scenario turns out to be what happens, as the explosion does break the time loop and takes them to November 10th.
Sarah doesn’t just figure out how to break the time loop overnight, though. A montage in Palm Springs showed her studying quantum mechanics, quantum physics, data analysis, and gravitational wave theory. She also discusses other methods about possible futures and then conducting her own experiments with the cave. Sarah tests out her hypothesis that blowing themselves up inside the cave by using a goat.
Does Roy Escape The Time Loop Too?
One question left in the Palm Springs ending is what happened to Roy. He got stuck in the time loop after a night of partying with Nyles, but he didn’t react well to learning he was in the loop. Roy began hunting down Nyles to torture him because he took his normal life away from him, but the two settled their differences by the end. However, a Palm Springs post-credits scene showed Roy coming back to Sarah’s sister’s wedding because Sarah left him a message about the solution. Roy finds Nyles, but he doesn’t remember him because Nyles isn’t in the loop anymore. The Palm Springs ending doesn’t show Roy breaking his time loop, but Sarah did tell him how to break it. As long as he can follow the instructions, then Roy should be able to break the loop and return to his normal life.
How Long Was Nyles In The Time Loop?
Palm Springs never shows how or when Nyles enters the time loop for the first time, so how long was he stuck? The movie doesn’t explicitly mention how long the loop lasted for Nyles, but it can be determined that it was for a very long time. Nyles can no longer remember some details about his life before the loop, such as what his job was. While that could be because of the combination of alcohol and drugs in his system, it might also be a sign of how long he was stuck living the same day.
The movie also highlights the various activities and adventures Nyles has done during the loop, and they all add up to at least a few years. He managed to memorize the events of the wedding, had multiple sexual encounters with different partners, and had several suicide attempts. He also learned the exact moment that the earthquake happens that opens the cave. Nyles even mentioned that he and Sarah hooked up thousands of times, which could be figurative, but if taken literally, it indicates at least a few years of days that just ended with him and Sarah together. All in all, Nyles had to be in the time loop for multiple years, especially since Sarah managed to learn quantum mechanics on an expert level. It could even be longer if Nyles’ 1,000,000th birthday party is accurate, but Nyles scoffs at that being a true representation of his age.
The Real Meaning Of Palm Springs’ Ending
By the time the credits roll on Palm Springs, the film’s themes of love, choice, regret, and happiness are intertwined. Sarah chooses to move past the regret she feels for sleeping with her sister’s fiance by telling her sister how much she means to her and warning the fiance not to mess it up. Meanwhile, Nyles chooses to leave his new comfort zone that exists within the loop and experience new moments with Sarah. This works nicely after seeing Nyles and Sarah just try to make the most of what they view as meaningless days. They both come to understand that making it from day to day, and doing so by themselves or when they are unhappy, isn’t the best way to live or experience life. After denying their need for love and becoming somewhat miserable, they both choose to experience happiness with each other. This has Palm Springs end with the two of them not knowing what will come next but can finally be happy.
