Caution: Major spoilers for True Story ahead.
True Story starring Kevin Hart and Wesley Snipes is currently sitting at number one on Netflix, and the finale left viewers with more than a couple of questions—here is the True Story ending explained. True Story is about two brothers who become wrapped up in a spiral of lies that kicks off when Kevin Hart’s character Kid, a standup comedian from Philadelphia, wakes up next to a woman who has apparently died of an overdose. Written by Eric Newman, the seven-episode drama series sees Hart playing a fictionalized version of himself, dealing with the stress and spotlight of stardom as he tries to bury their mistakes while things go from bad to worse.
In True Story, Kevin Hart and Wesley Snipes play brothers fighting to cover up the murder of a Greek gangster named Ari (Billy Zane). Coming to America star Wesley Snipe’s character hired Ari as a fixer to cover up Daphne’s death. Once Ari decides to ask Kid for $6,000,000—which Kid would then be audited for—Kid feels like he has no other option but to strangle Ari to death. This begins a domino effect as each time the brothers think they’re in the clear, something else shows them they’re still back at square one. All of this ends up contributing to the reason many viewers want the True Story ending explained.
The constant pressure on Kid to hide the murder he committed leads to an intense last episode, and the explosive finale leaves the audience looking to have the True Story ending explained. Carlton, played by Blade’s Wesley Snipes, worries that Kid’s fan Gene (Theo Rossi) will follow them for the rest of their lives as the only person who knows what they did to Ari. Because of this, he stabs Gene in the back by turning him over to Ari’s brothers who promptly beat the innocent man to death. Things take a sharp turn when Kid discovers that Carlton offered to pay Daphne (whose real name is Simone) to help him fake her death as a way to get money from Kid. The last episode results in the deaths of four more people, but why?
Why Did Kid Kill Carlton?
The obvious, surface-level answer to this is that Carlton caused every single problem Kid faced throughout the entire season. Carlton is the one who pressured his brother into breaking his sobriety so that he could get him drunk enough to pass out. He told Simone he would pay her to play dead and help extort Kid. He told Kid he couldn’t call an ambulance to try and help Simone by making him think that his life would be over. He brought Ari in to blackmail Kid, got Gene beaten to death, and he took $600,000 he couldn’t pay back from Ari and his brothers. He regularly asked Kid for large sums of money which he would quickly squander. Even then, Kid initially didn’t plan to kill him.
Kid's main motivation in finally killing his brother was that he needed a story for the cops after he killed Ari’s brothers. He needed another story that wasn’t based on truth, and he knew it couldn’t be Carlton’s. After Kid killed Ari’s brothers, Carlton immediately began talking about how he was going to fix everything. Carlton said that he would lead and speak to the cops because he already knew what to say, but his stories were what had gotten Kid into trouble to begin with. He told the comedian over and over that he’d fix things when all he did was make them worse. In the end, Kid realized that he was the one cleaning up his brother's mess, and Carlton was not going to create another one for him to deal with.
Why Was Carlton Extorting His Brother?
Carlton was extorting his brother for six million dollars. He was initially asking for $600,000 to pay off his debt to Ari, but later on, Ari reveals that they want a total of six million dollars that would be transferred through Carlton as a middle man. Even if Kid had agreed to give Carlton the money upfront, his brother still had no plans to call things off. Carlton also told his girlfriend Simone (played by Night Teeth's Ash Santos) that she would be getting a few hundred thousand, which wouldn’t have been possible with just the $600,000 because he owed every last penny of that money to Ari’s family. Ultimately, Carlton puts together this True Story scheme because Kid had already given him hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years, and the greedy brother knew he wasn't going to get much more to pay off his $600,000 debt and continue to live his irresponsible lifestyle.
Why Didn’t Kid Expose Carlton in the Interview?
Kid didn’t expose Carlton as being the one who extorted him because it would be easier for the rest of the world to believe that a gangster who tortured and beat people to death for not paying him back was the one extorting him. Kid, like Kevin Hart, was always in the public spotlight, a theme constantly pushed throughout all seven episodes, and his negative relationship with his brother would have put more pressure on him to offer further explanation. Kid also didn’t expose him and tarnish his memory because even though he never wanted to see him again, Carlton was still his brother, and part of him still wanted to be able to think of Carlton that way. It was easy for Kid to come to terms with if he told everyone that two people who were practically complete strangers were to blame than to shift the focus to the brother he had known his whole life.
Why Didn’t Kid Kill Herschel?
Kid didn’t kill True Story character Herschel because there was no need to, and if he had, it would’ve potentially created another mess. Ari and his brothers were dead. Carlton was dead. Carlton’s girlfriend was dead. Gene was dead. Every loose end was taken care of already, and if Herschel had been murdered, there would be nobody else around with any motivation. Kid would immediately be a suspect, and there would be nobody else to pin it on. Kid also trusted Herschel and wanted him around. Herschel helped him from day one, and when he told Kid that he would continue doing so, Kid agreed to give him six million dollars with no objection. Herschel was upset that Kid had potentially put Billie in danger, but he didn’t know the entire story, so it was easier for him to accept that it really was almost entirely Carlton’s fault, even if Kid had killed Ari.
The Real Meaning of the True Story Ending Explained
Throughout True Story, Kevin Hart's Kid was consistently battling against who he used to be and who he wanted to be. When Kid returned home to Philly and began spending time with his brother again, he was dragged back into his past. When he was stressed after Ari’s death and treated his friends poorly as a result, they all expressed their fear that he was becoming the “old” Kid again—someone he definitely didn't want to be. When Kid killed his brother, he also killed the person he used to be and the life he no longer wanted. Carlton represented the old Kid and all the past mistakes he wanted to put behind him. Simpy put: Carlton was Kid’s past, and Herschel was his present. Herschel represented the Kid who made people laugh, visited children’s hospitals, was a father, and played a superhero. That is True Story’s ending explained.