If you’re a Netflix subscriber, you may recall catching the smash hit movie The Platform upon release back in 2020. The Spanish language film managed to get a massive bump due to its release right at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw millions of individuals all over the globe stuck at home and looking for new things to watch. Netflix eventually revealed the streaming figures for the film, which touted over 56 million viewing households across one month, making it one of the most popular original movies released by the streamer. As such, it was a no-brainer for the studio to order a sequel, which finally arrived in the form of The Platform 2 on October 4, 2024.
Much like the 2020 original, The Platform 2 is a mysterious and enigmatic narrative, with themes regarding the follies of capitalism, human nature, greed, along with other explorations of morality and ethics. The film offers a mind-bending watch with some really creative tie-ins back to the first Platform, but still left many fans begging for more. If you’ve just finished watching The Platform 2, be sure to read ahead, as we break down the film’s narrative, themes, ending and look forward to the future of the franchise. Be advised that there will be heavy spoilers ahead, so please feel free to bookmark this page and return later if you haven’t watched The Platform 2 all the way through yet. With no further preamble, let’s dive right in.
How Did The First Movie End?
Just in case it’s been a while since you’ve seen 2020’s The Platform, let’s briefly discuss how the original closes out, and sets the stage for this thrilling sequel. Much like the sequel, The Platform takes place entirely within a vertically-built prison tower, which sees residents spread amongst a myriad of floors. Each day, a platform loaded with food drops from the top floor all the way down to the bottom, allowing the prisoners to take their pick of rations for the day. Those at the top tend to pillage the platform with reckless abandon, leaving those at the bottom with little to no scraps left over, in a pretty clear indictment of unchecked capitalism. When the prisoners are rotated, and those who once starved get their chance at the top, they too often lack empathy, perpetuating the cycle of greed and gluttony.
The first film follows a pair of prisoners named Goreng and Trimagasi, who each have very distinct backstories. Over the course of the film, it is revealed that Goreng has volunteered to join the prison experiment in order to get a diploma, while Trimagasi has been sentenced to the facility for an unspecified violent crime. When rations become especially scarce, Trimagasi ties Goreng up and attempts to cannibalize him slowly over the course of weeks. When a woman descends from the platform searching for her lost child, she spots this injustice and saves Goreng, only for the latter to kill and cannibalize Trimagasi in retaliation.
As the narrative continues, Goreng descends lower and lower to the pit of the facility, eventually spotting the young child of the platform traveler. In an act of selflessness that seems to redeem his murder and cannibalism, Goreng sacrifices his life so that the child can ascend to the top of the facility, hoping against the odds that she can escape.
What Happens in ‘The Platform 2’?
The Platform 2 takes place in the same vertical prison structure as the original, and sees a whole new group of prisoners struggling to understand the system and survive against the elements. The sequel takes things a step further, however, by showcasing much more of the behind-the-scenes processes that go into filling the prison with volunteers, convicted felons, and others seeking some kind of work exchange program. Through a number of scenes showcasing complex world building, viewers come to learn much more about the prison system than we ever could have gleaned from the first movie.
Unlike the first film, The Platform 2 introduces a system of solidarity enforced by the prisoners, which sees those at the top agreeing amongst themselves to be frugal with their choices, and allow the misfortunate souls beneath them an opportunity to have their fill. Those who support and enforce this ideology operate as something of a prison gang or a cult and are referred to as the loyalists. Meanwhile, a growing number of prisoners launch a counterculture group dedicated to the survival of the fittest and an opportunity economy, earning them the title of the barbarians. Along the way, we’re introduced to two main characters –Perempuan and Zamiatin. These characters, who are cell mates at the start of the film, both adhere to the loyalist cause, if only to appease those above them who enforce it.
What Happens to Zamiatin at the End?
While Zamiatin is established as a primary character at the start of The Platform 2, his plot line ultimately gets sidelined in favor of Perempuan’s harrowing journey. As we come to learn over the course of the narrative, Zamiatin is essentially a fraud, perpetuating a false image of himself within the prison as a big tough man who has committed unspeakable crimes. He does this in order to protect himself from other dangerous criminals which surround him, but also to appease his own sense of self and suppress his feelings of inadequacy. Through a series of flashbacks, we see that his wife and children left him before his incarceration, leaving him depressed, ashamed and embarrassed. From there, his own parents banished him to prison in order to instill him with a sense of discipline.
Zamiatin’s tragic story finally comes to a close after his sense of self comes crashing down. He goes weeks without eating a single scrap of food, causing him to shrink from an overweight prisoner to an emaciated shadow of his former self. As he accepts the reality of his life, and the circumstances that led him to the prison, he ultimately leaps down the platform shaft into the bottom layer of the pit, meeting his certain demise when he lands.
What Happens to Perempuan?
Much like Zamiatin, the reason behind Perempuan’s incarceration is a major mystery throughout most of the film’s run time. As we eventually come to learn, she was once a highly successful and respected artist, who pushed the boundaries of the art world with her avant-garde pieces. One of her final installments saw her erecting a statue with razor-sharp edges, which in turn sliced a small child when she refused to place cautionary barriers around it. At first, Perempuan attempted to escape justice for her criminal negligence, hiring the best lawyers and slipping through the traditional justice system. Of course, after some time had passed, she could no longer bear the guilt of her actions, and voluntarily signed herself up to enter the experimental prison, hoping to find a sense of absolution.
While incarcerated, Perempuan sees a number of untold horrors and is eventually given an opportunity to escape after being transferred to level 333. Just as she prepares to leave her prison behind, however, she sees that the overseers of the establishment are sending a small child to the very bottom of the pit. In an act of pure selflessness, she trades places with the child and frees him. Perempuan sees the child as a blameless victim of the world’s atrocities, with a whole life loaded with opportunities ahead of him. She accepts her fate as an adult who has made poor decisions, and ultimately succumbs to her death, after undergoing a spiritual journey through a symbolic final floor. The very guilt and self-loathing that led to her experience in the film ultimately becomes the tool of her redemption, as she uses her last act to save the child.
How Does ‘The Platform 2’ Connect To The Original Movie?
Though the connections are not immediately obvious, many eagle-eyed viewers have theorized that The Platform 2 is actually a prequel film to the first Platform movie. The second installment introduces an administrative entity not seen in the original, which helps to uncover the true reasoning behind how and why this prison exists. Unlike a standard prison, this establishment is used as a form of self-exile, and is also the home to a number of bizarre social experiments, which the administrators intend to apply to society at large, if successful. It’s also home to a number of incarcerated criminals like a standard prison, though it obviously functions on a much deeper level. The introduction of children into the experiment is also an intentional move on the part of the administration, which aims to study human behavior under extreme conditions.
There are still many questions left unanswered at the end of The Platform 2, though the film ultimately helps to establish more rules and guidelines for the franchise, re-contextualizing the 2020 original. A mid-credits scene showcases a number of prisoners who enter level 333 alongside an innocent child, much like Perempuan, though many of these reprehensible criminals place themselves first and choose to leave the child behind. This sets the stage for the gruesome living conditions of the first film. Furthermore, this mid-credits scene establishes that there are numerous vertical prisons like this one being built all over the globe.
Will There Be A ‘Platform 3’?
Though Netflix has not officially given the green light for a third installment in the Platform franchise, it does seem clear that The Platform 2 is setting up a clear path towards a wide-ranging franchise. The streamer’s decision to pull the trigger on additional films likely depends on how well The Platform 2 performs in its opening weeks. Either way, it seems clear that the existence of different prisons around the world opens the door for numerous social experiments, each with their own regional flair. If you love this franchise and you’d like to see it continue, be sure to spread the word about The Platform 2.
