Netflix Series Cassandra Ending Explained with Q&A

Want the Netflix series Cassandra ending explained? Maybe you’re confused about the ending of the Netflix limited series Cassandra. Or have questions like those covered in our Q&A? Get our insights into the German sci-fi thriller miniseries on Netflix. *WARNING: Contains spoilers!*

The Netflix series Cassandra ending delivered on action and suspense as well as moments of pure horror. Still, you may want the ending explained for this German sci-fi thriller series. I know some people are a bit confused about both parts of the plot and the ending. That’s why we’ve made a Q&A to help give you answers.

Obviously, this page will be full of spoilers regarding key plot elements from the Cassandra series on Netflix. Including details about the actual Cassandra ending. After all, we’ll be diving into the past and present which includes revealing plot details. Not least in order to cover the various questions about the ending.

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If you’re still here, it must mean you’re looking for answers about the ending of the Cassandra series, so let’s get into it.

The Netflix series Cassandra ending explained

The Cassandra ending was wrapped up nicely explaining the origin of the electronic home assistant Cassandra aka the virtual assistant of the 50-year-old smart home. During the ending, we were given information on why Cassandra was turned into a robot and why she wanted a new family of her own.

However, much of this was covered rather quickly, so you may have missed some of it. Or you could have additional questions.

Also, there were some crazy twists in the final episodes. Including a hidden daughter, and the cover-up of a mass murder by Cassandra’s son. Oh yeah, it got a little crazy. We’ll be looking at all those details in this article as well.

Finally, many are asking for a Cassandra ending explained, so we’re looking at that by answering questions we’ve come across already.

Cassandra Netflix series questions and answers

In the below Q&A, we’ll be talking about some of the most asked questions. Some are simply elements of the story. However, most questions do directly play into the ending. No matter what questions you have, hopefully, the answers can be found below.

First, however, let’s go over the timeline to get a handle on what happened and when.

What time periods is Cassandra covering?

The Netflix series Cassandra makes several time jumps back and forth between the years 1964, 1965, 1971, 1972, and the present.

Cassandra in 1964

Cassandra (Lavinia Wilson) was a real woman in 1964 when she was married to her husband Horst (Franz Hartwig), who’s a scientist, and they had a son named Peter. She’s a housewife, so her life is all about cooking, cleaning, and taking care of her family.

However, her best friend since childhood, Birgit, mentions that Cassandra was the best in school, so maybe she should think about getting a job. It’s still not normal for women to work outside the house, and Cassandra isn’t about to rock the boat in that regard.

Instead, she wants to try for a second child, and in 1964, Cassandra gets pregnant again. Wondering about the gender of their second child, Horst claims he has invented a device that can tell them. As they try it out – seemingly with Cassandra being a human test subject on something new – it all feels wrong and even hurts.

Cassandra in 1965

They did discover that the child in Cassandra’s belly was a girl. However, because Horst tried out his new device to tell the sex of the baby, the pregnancy ends violently. There’s pain and a lot of blood, but going to the hospital is impossible as a storm is raging and a tree is in the middle of the only road out.

It all results in their daughter, Margrethe, being born too early and disfigured.

At first, we’re told that Margrethe doesn’t survive, and is, in fact, stillborn. Later, we find out that she wasn’t dead at all. Telling the world their daughter was stillborn simply abled them to hide her away.

Cassandra in 1971

Cassandra discovers that her now teenage son, Peter (Elias Grünthal), desperately wants to quit soccer, but his father won’t accept this. Despite Cassandra promising to take care of this, she goes back on her promise to appease her husband.

She ends up telling Peter to suck it up but later discovers that her son is now getting violently bullied by his school and soccer teammates. This leads to Peter killing the bullies. The only option he felt he had left.

Cassandra shows that she’s the kind of mom you call when you need to get rid of bodies and decides to cover up the killings. She removes evidence and burns the bodies.

Also, this is now seven years after the supposed stillbirth of their daughter. Cassandra discovers her husband is having an affair with her best friend, Birgit, whom he managed to impregnate.

Cassandra in 1972

Birgit and Horst’s son is given the name he wanted to give his and Cassandra’s child before they discovered they were expecting a girl.

All the trauma of her son’s crimes (and continued unhappiness) along with her husband’s affair and illegitimate son, leads to Cassandra feeling physically unwell.

When she goes to the doctor, he tells her – or rather, he tells her husband and ignores his actual patient – that she has incurable cancer. He asks if she has ever been exposed to heavy radiation. We all know she was violently exposed to this seven years earlier with Horst’s smart gender-revealing device.

This death sentence is why Cassandra suggests to Horst that he try out yet another unfinished experiment. This would enable him to transfer her memory to a server and have her identity digitalized and transferred to a robot.

While this process will kill her, Cassandra has nothing to lose as she’s already dying, so she goes ahead with the project and we see her physically dead body while her personality is now all over the smart home.

Cassandra in the present

A new family has moved into the same house that Cassandra’s family lived in 50 years earlier. When they turn everything on, Cassandra comes to life again. Because Horst felt Cassandra was prettiest when she smiled – isn’t that always what women are told?! – she is always smiling. Even when her words don’t match this facial expression.

Something Cassandra herself also commented on in 1972, when she first saw herself as a digital version.

The Prill family consists of the artist mother, Samira (Mina Tander), the author father, David (Michael Klammer), the gay teenage son, Fynn (Joshua Kantara), and the young daughter, Juno (Mary Tölle). Cassandra immediately wants to take over the family, as she sees Peter and Margrethe in the kids.

David, she could do without, just as she did Horst for most of her life.

The ending of Cassandra on Netflix

Okay, having covered the timeline of the Netflix series Cassandra, let’s get to the elements that came into play during the ending of the limited series.

Why is it impossible to shut off Cassandra?

Along with Horst, the device that resulted in a disfigured daughter and a cancer-riddled body for Cassandra, was operated by an assistant. This assistant seemed a bit hesitant when it came to testing the device on Cassandra back in 1964.

Probably because he knew that it had high levels of radiation. The very same radiation that hurt the child and gave Cassandra incurable cancer.

Cassandra essentially offers to forgive Horst’s assistant by him doing her a favor; The official off-switch is a decoy. The real off switch is controlled only by Cassandra herself. She can switch herself on and off as she wishes, but no one else will ever have the power to stop her again.

How come Cassandra didn’t save Margrethe?

In many ways, Cassandra surely felt she was saving Margrethe back in 1965 when she convinced Horst that they could keep her safe and happy in the house. The alternative would probably have been to give her up to some sort of home. Horst would never have allowed himself to be associated with the disfigured child.

Never mind that his action of testing a weird device on his pregnant wife led to her disfigurement.

When we first discover that Margarethe is alive at the very end of episode 5, it’s because the oven is yet again having a light flick on and off over and over again. We see that it’s the little Margrethe standing in some sort of hidden room, flicking the switch. Probably to get into contact with her parents.

Why did Cassandra let Margrethe die?

Later, in the present, we find out that when Horst and Peter died, Cassandra switches herself off. She probably wanted to become a digital version of herself in order to be there for both Peter and Margrethe, but apparently couldn’t handle being left alone with Margrethe when they died.

Then again, Horst did promise to bring Margrethe with him, so he was the one who first let her down. Cassandra had enough wits about her digital self to know that she couldn’t care for the girl alone.

So, when she saw Horst and Peter dead, she switched herself off and left Margrethe to die in a hidden room in the house. The poor girl starved to death alone and afraid. In that sense, she never saved Margrethe, but simply left her to a brutal fate.

What is David thinking when trying to kill Samira?

While I have admittedly loathed David throughout the Cassandra series, it was taken to whole new levels during that final episode. David never really believed his wife and was convinced Cassandra was simply a software consisting of 1 and 0, with no ability to think or feel.

However, he also had no problem accepting that Cassandra felt he was a brilliant author and thought he should continue writing his main character as he had been. Double standards? Oh yeah.

So, in the Cassandra ending, David tries to kill his wife. Claiming he must do this to save his kids. Sounds like the actions of a loving father and a “good guy”, right?!

Well, it could be. If what he said was true.

The problem with this explanation? Cassandra explicitly told David that she could never hurt Fynn or Juno. David himself, however, Cassandra had no problem hurting. A statement she underlined by grabbing at his crotch with her steely grabbers and tightening her grip.

What kind of trauma did the Prill family experience before they moved into the smart home?

Samira’s sister was having mental problems so she moved in with the family. However, one day the sister decided to end her life, and Samira’s young daughter Juno discovered the body.

Is Samira crazy when she sees her dead sister?

When Samira sees her dead sister, Kathi, while being in a mental hospital during Christmas, I don’t feel it’s supposed to tell us that she’s crazy. Instead, it symbolizes that she relates more to what her sister went through.

Also, she looks to her sister for help, just as her sister got help from Samira before she took her own life.

Of course, there is also the possibility that Samira has been given medication that would make her hallucinate. It doesn’t really feel like this though, so I’m opting for the former explanation.

Will Samira stay with David?

Oh HELL no. This man sent his wife to an insane asylum (okay, a psychiatric clinic, but you get the gist) when she tried to tell him the truth. Even when his older son told him that Cassandra had threatened his friend, David refused to believe that his wife could be telling the truth.

Instead, he used the fact that Samira’s sister, Kathi, had suffered from a mental illness. Like somehow this meant Samira was also sick because it ran in the family.

So, when Samira (not David) manages to defeat Cassandra, she’s standing with her two kids behind her, guarding them, as she states “It’s over!”.

David refers to the trouble with Cassandra, which he has finally acknowledged exists after she cut off his finger, but Samira is clearly talking about their marriage.

Full disclosure: Halfway through watching the Cassandra series, I stated out loud that if Samira didn’t divorce David at the end of this series, I simply would not accept or recognize it.

Cassandra questions from our readers

If you have questions about the Netflix series Cassandra ending or elements of any part of the series that you’re curious about, then reach out and we’ll include your question (and our answer) below.

Samantha wrote us and asked the following:

This isn’t about the ending, but do you know if there will be a season 2 of Cassandra?

As far as we know, Cassandra is a limited series so the six episodes in the series are all there is. Of course, we also know Netflix loves a hit, so if it’s popular, I’m confident they’ll find a way to create a second season of Cassandra.

Maybe a spin-off series of some kind. I mean, there’s really no telling what Horst may have done upon discovering that this device did actually work. After all, Cassandra is working for three months before Peter and Horst die.

Horst could’ve made plenty of copies of Cassandra within this time span. Maybe she’s the origin of Siri or Alexa? In other words, Netflix, hit us up if you need more ideas for Cassandra season 2.

*****

Brittany Jones reached out with this excellent question:

Birgit survived the crash and had to have known about Margrethe since Cassandra had talked about them taking her just before. Why wouldn’t Birgit have saved her?

This is a very good question, which may not have a simple answer.

Birgit was clearly traumatized by the whole ordeal which resulted in the death of her beloved Horst, the father of her child. It could be loyalty to Horst, who obviously decided to leave behind Margrethe or it could be that she didn’t dare return to the house.

Also, in Birgit’s defense (well, to some degree), this was probably the first time she ever heard about Margrethe as she had been hidden away from the world.

She probably had no idea where the girl was or if she even truly existed. With this digital and rather crazy version of Cassandra, she just met, it could be a fantasy of a grieving mother. After all, we don’t know what Horst might have said to Birgit as they left without Margrethe.

*****

Carol James wrote us with a question that sort of relates to the question above:

How did the Cassandra robot get back to the smart home? We saw her shut herself down when seeing her dead husband and son at the scene of the car accident, but then she’s in the house again 50 years later.

It appears that someone must have known where she belongs. As no one apart from Horst and Peter knew about Cassandra, it can only really be Birgit, who made sure Cassandra returned home.

Also, Birgit’s son Thomas could have inherited the house, as he was Horst’s son. Illegitimate, but still. This could indicate that maybe Birgit did actually return to the smart home. Perhaps to look for Margarethe as well as return Cassandra to her home.

The fact that Cassandra never turned herself back on and allowed her daughter Margrethe to die alone, is the real conundrum to me.

*****

Malinda S Peterson also contacted us with a question regarding the secret daughter:

I never saw any indication that Peter knew about his sister at all. The end seems to suggest, according to a lot of people, that he did know. Did I miss something? And if he did know about her, would he have been allowed to see her?

I never saw any indication that Peter knew about his sister either. Whenever we see Peter in the house, he seems very sad and lonely, usually spending time by himself.

In fact, even when he leaves the house to supposedly go be with a girl, he’s really alone. Cassandra discovers this when she follows him out. Instead of being with a friend (male or female), she sees him sitting alone at a bus stop, drinking.

Maybe Cassandra even considered letting them meet, when she saw her son out in the world being every bit as alone as her daughter hidden away in a secret room. It’s possible that Peter felt something was “off” in the house, but he may also have known about Horst’s affair, so maybe he chalked any weirdness up to this.

Surely, Peter would have loved having a sister to spend time with. To me, it seems impossible that he was allowed to know about the existence of Margarethe.

*****

Scott contacted us with this question:

Samira shows a newspaper clipping she found that showed Cassandra standing by the car after the accident. And in one of the first scenes, there is someone (other than Cassandra) who comes upon the accident scene (perhaps this is who takes the picture)? Did I miss some reference to who happened upon the scene and how pictures were taken?

If there was a reference, then we definitely also missed that one. From what we can tell (and remember), it was a coincidence that someone passed the scene of the accident. As far as the picture goes, it appears to be simply a news photographer.

Any accident – not least a family tragedy like this one – is newsworthy and with the robot at the scene, it must have been even more intriguing for the press.

*****

Ewa reached out with two questions:

Why did Cassandra become evil? 

In the longer form of the question, it’s mentioned that of course her husband had a mistress which could make someone angry, but still, she helps her son hide bodies and is ready to kill. Why is that?

Of course, it’s difficult to pinpoint any one thing, and honestly, I think it’s many things. The proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. It’s mentioned that Cassandra was a brilliant woman, but stopped working to become a homemaker (a full-time mother and wife).

Then her husband takes a mistress who is working outside the home, and he also experiments on Cassandra while she’s pregnant – and promises that it’s safe, which is a lie. The result: Cassandra gives birth to a child with deformations and gets terminal cancer.

Also, her husband is a terrible father to their son, who also clearly has issues. All of this combined and Cassandra still opts to have her mind preserved in a robot to stay with her family as she’s dying. Then they want to abandon her and end up dead.

With this new family moving in many decades later, she wants to make sure they can’t leave her again. This comes across as evil (and her actions are evil) but it’s more about desperation and terrible heartbreaking experiences in the past.

Why did Horst ever cheat on his wife?

If anyone could answer this, there would be no affairs in the world. It appears Horst and Cassandra had a good marriage and life, but he clearly found himself to be the most important person… and she appeared to agree when she gave up her career.

He probably loved her intelligence and courage when she was younger, and that’s why he falls for Cassandra’s friend, who still acts the same way. Cassandra gave up everything for her husband and in turn, he went out and found what she no longer was.

This is a story as old as time, and one that many divorced women will recognize, so Horst isn’t really special. He’s a product of his time. And a terrible husband and father, but still ends up the winner.

Well, until he dies in a car crash which seems more like karma than Cassandra.

*****

Do you have a question about the Netflix series Cassandra ending?

If you have questions about the Netflix series Cassandra ending or elements of any part of the series that you’re curious about, then feel free to reach out and we’ll include your question (and our answer) in the above section.

That’s it. We hope the above little Q&A helped answer any questions you had about the ending or plot of the Cassandra series on Netflix.