Red Eye ending explained: Does Richard Armitage’s Nolan survive?

Airborne ITV thriller Red Eye has fans on the edge of their seats as dead bodies keep popping up on a nerve-wracking flight to Beijing.

While ITV1 is showing the series on Sunday nights, all six episodes are already available to watch in full on ITVX for those who can’t wait to find out whether passenger Doctor Matthew Nolan (played by Fool Me Once star Richard Armitage) survives to the end of his deadly journey.

He’s on the flight because he is being returned to China under guard as he’s suspected of killing a Chinese national, Shen Zhao, whom he had met in a nightclub. Escorting him is London police officer Hana Li (Jing Lusi), and it is not long before the two of them figure out that both their lives are in danger 35,000 feet up in the air, as they are caught up in a deadly conspiracy that involves the Chinese government, the CIA, MI5 and MI6.

The question is – can Nolan and Hana figure out who is killing passengers onboard before they land in China, and will Nolan be the next one to die? If you can’t wait to find out, and you don’t mind spoilers, here’s what happens in the final tense episode.

Do Hana and Nolan escape the flight?

In the previous episode, Nolan had discovered that the reason he was being targeted was because Shen Zhao had planted a nano-SIM card into a wound in his side when she had drugged and stabbed him at the nightclub.

Unfortunately, he and Hana were unable to transmit the unknown contents to their ally in the UK, MI5 chief Maddie Delaney (Lesley Sharp), thanks to a pesky bad guy aboard the plane destroying the aircraft’s wi-fi connection. To make matters worse, while gathering up dead bodies and stopping the two bad guys on the flight, Hana had found a suitcase with her name on it filled with cash and fake passports that would make her look like a spy to the Chinese government should the plane land at its intended destination.

Their only hope was to get the pilot to turn the plane around and head back to London – but that wasn’t as safe an option as they thought – overnight Maddie had been ousted from MI5’s Thames House by smarmy rival Tennant (Jonathan Arris), and a flashback to that fateful nightclub in China revealed that her CIA lover, Mike Maxwell (Mido Hamada), was actually part of the whole conspiracy too.

It seems he and his operatives had been watching Nolan and Shen Zhao as they wanted the SIM card for themselves, since it incriminated the US in some way. They killed Shen Zhao, and Nolan is next on their list.

Maddie and Hana’s journalist sister Jess (Jemma Moore) head to Dunsfold Air Base to meet the diverted plane, as do Tennant and his men. Luckily Tennant is at the wrong end of the airport when the flight lands, giving Maddie, Hana, Nolan and Jess time to escape.

Blissfully unaware that Mike Maxwell is not as nice as he appears, Maddie drives the group to the US Embassy for safety. Bad idea.

Back at MI5, Tennant’s team work out that the two murderers on the plane were paid by the CIA, and over at the US Embassy Maddie becomes suspicious of Mike who has secretly asked one of his team to drug Nolan, Jess and Hana with the intention of searching them for the SIM card. Luckily Nolan realises his plan before the group start drinking some sedative-laced coffee, and Jess, Nolan and Hana fight their way out, leaving Mike with a fake SIM card as they escape with Maddie.

Maddie transmits the SIM card information to MI5, and it shows two files that are almost identical. The original one is by an American hacker, proving that it would be possible to hack into a nuclear reactor and cause it to meltdown – not the best news since the government are about to allow the Chinese to build reactors on British soil.

The second file looks like a copy, except code has been added to make it look like the Chinese military wrote the hack. It seems the CIA’s plan was to reveal the second code to end the Anglo/Chinese partnership, and Shen Zhao was killed because she wanted the British to know what the CIA was up to.

Maddie tells Nolan and Hana that the information will get Mike a slap on the wrist and deportation to the US, which they feel is unfair, so Maddie suggests another option. She phones Chinese Minister Tang, and shortly afterwards drops Hana and Nolan in central London where Mike can find them. We then see Mike chasing the pair through the streets of London in his car.

Does Mike kill Nolan?

Mike corners Hana and Nolan in a courtyard and goes to shoot Hana, but Nolan throws himself in front of her and is hit by the bullet. Lying on the ground, Nolan tells Mike he will not get away with his crimes or be protected by the US, as they are actually inside the grounds of London’s Chinese embassy, therefore on British soil. It’s all been a trap to catch him, which dawns on Mike as he is taken away by Chinese soldiers.

Maddie tells Tang the SIM was destroyed – as it probably should be, considering what it contains – as wounded Nolan passes out on the ground. So is he dead? Thankfully not, as it is revealed that he is in hospital recovering from the bullet wound, with Hana at his side.

Maddie returns home to her husband, who is bed-bound following a serious accident. He always knew and accepted she was seeing Mike, and is there for support when Maddie tells him that Mike “is not the man I thought he was.”

Hana, meanwhile, goes home to visit her family. Jess is celebrating as Maddie gave her an exclusive about MI6’s dodgy undercover operation that had led to Nolan unwittingly being a courier of sensitive information, and Hana has a gift for her father from Maddie, too.

The family had never known what had happened to Hana’s mother following the Chinese takeover of Hong Kong, where Hana was born and her mother arrested, but Maddie has found the information so that the family can finally know how she died.

The episode ends with the camera lingering on a photo in the hallway of a young Hana and her mum from many years before.

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