I’m Completely Shocked This Major Star's Character Didn’t Die In The Monkey

I was absolutely certain one supporting character was doomed in The Monkey, but the Stephen King adaptation completely subverted my expectations. Oz Perkins’ The Monkey is based on Stephen King’s short story of the same name from the 1984 collection Skeleton Crew, but only loosely. The Monkey changes King’s story of a cursed toy into a tale of sibling rivalry that is facilitated by the titular killer toy. Theo James plays both Hal and Bill Shelburne, a pair of twins who inherit a toy monkey from their absent father.

The boys soon learn that every time someone turns the monkey’s key, a person dies in a horrible, strange accident. After their babysitter is decapitated in one of The Monkey’s bloodiest scenes, Hal tries to use the monkey to kill his bullying brother Bill. Instead, the toy kills their beloved mother Lois and, after their uncle Chip dies in an absurdly unlikely hunting accident, the boys throw the toy down a well. Years later, The Monkey’s twist ending reveals that this isn’t the end of the toy’s tale.

Elijah Wood’s Ted Seemed To Be Doomed In The Monkey

Wood’s Annoying Supporting Character Was Insufferable

Bill has spent 25 years obsessively attempting to unearth the monkey, while Hal has spent his life distancing himself from others to avoid cursing them. This results in Hal becoming estranged from his teenage son, Petey, who is raised by Hal’s former love interest and her new partner, Ted. Elijah Wood’s insufferable replacement father, Ted, is a self-help author and a blatant hypocrite who preaches about the value of fatherhood but bullies Hal the minute he sees him. Since Ted is insanely toxic towards Hal in their only scene together, I assumed he was doomed.

However, once Aunt Ida’s death sets Bill and Hal on a collision course with each other, Ted is forgotten entirely. This came as a shock to me since, from challenging Hal to an arm-wrestling contest to cryptically claiming he has taken Hal’s “Power” from him, Ted is a comically awful guy throughout his brief screen time. However, upon reflection, I’m struck by how much smarter this subversive misdirection was. It would be easy to make Wood’s character the villain of The Monkey since he embodies all of Hal’s insecurities, and he’s an obviously odious person.

The Monkey Dropping Ted’s Storyline Was A Better Choice

This Subversive Move Forced The Story To Focus On Hal and Petey

However, Bill makes for a more compelling villain in The Monkey’s latter half. Bill is a better foil to Hal since both men have allowed a shared traumatic incident from their childhood to define the trajectories of their adult lives in very different ways. Bill and Hal’s physical similarity underscores the surprising overlap between their seemingly opposed outlooks.

Theo James looking worried behind the wheel of a car in The Monkey

What's The Next Stephen King Movie Releasing After The Monkey?

The Monkey is getting good reviews, but it is not the only Stephen King movie coming to theaters in 2025, with a few other adaptations in the works.

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Both Bill and Hal think that they can control the vagaries of fate if they take the right approach to the monkey, but both are deluded. Hal seeing Death in The Monkey’s ending allows him to tacitly accept that he has no way of deciding who lives or dies, and he never did. If Wood’s Ted were the movie’s villain, The Monkey would become a more straightforward story about fatherhood anxiety, masculinity, and empowerment, rather than this surreal, strangely life-affirming story about accepting the absurdity of existence.