Top Boy season 5 – or season 3, as Netflix likes to call it – spoilers follow, including the ending.
Top Boy's season five finale made Jamie's death look like child's play.
In one of the boldest moves since killing off Dushane (more on that below), the show's final episode pulled the trigger on Sully (Kane Robinson).
Just when it seemed as though 'Big Man' Sully might actually become the 'top boy' of the streets, he was gunned down by a mystery person in a black hoodie.
The culprit may seem obvious, but let's face it: Sully made a lot of enemies in his pursuit of money and power through drugs, so it really could have been anyone.
One suspect we can cross off the list is Dushane, played by Ashley Walters — who told GQ that while Netflix wanted the show to "go on forever", the cast and crew were keen to "go out on a high".
But it certainly wasn't a high for Sully, so let's unpack who could have been on the other side of the gun.
Top Boy season 5 ending explained
With the police hot on his tail for the murder of Jeffrey (Shaun Dingwall), Dushane made some desperate decisions to get the money he needed to flee the country safely. And by "desperate", we mean he beat up Jaq (Jasmine Jobson) and stole the drug haul she'd previously taken from Sully.
Ultimately, this resulted in Sully tracking Dushane down to Summerhouse estate, where a girl's accidental (presumed) death at the hands of police had turned the deportation protest into a riot.
Chaos allowed Dushane to skirt Sully, dodging between the fires and commotion but eventually Dushane was caught trying to scale a garage wall with drugs in hand.
While the drugs landed safely on the other side, the same couldn't be said for Dushane, who was shot before he could be reunited with the "25 kis of white, uncut".
Sully was immediately taken aback by his own actions as Dushane lay bleeding to death on the other side of the shutters.
Dushane's cries brought home the severity of what he'd done, but despite their moving heart-to-heart, Sully couldn't bring himself to regret his actions.
As he put it: "If we're not monsters, we're food, and I could never be food."
While the unspilled tears in Sully's eyes were soul-deep, that didn't stop him from stepping past Dushane's lifeless body to retrieve the bag of drugs and bouncing.
And though Dushane may be out of the line-up, there are still others who could have been responsible for offing Sully.
Who killed Sully in the Top Boy season 5 finale?
Fans are no doubt champing at the bit to find out who killed Sully. However, Top Boy's director William Stefan Smith has revealed that the show filmed an alternative ending in which the killer was unmasked, but viewers won't find out who it is. At least not from Smith, anyway.
"I can understand some people want to know who killed Sully, but I won't be the one to tell you," Smith admitted in an interview with Netflix.
In the same interview, Smith revealed that he offered Netflix and the executives both endings, and everyone agreed keeping the killer's identity hidden led to a stronger ending.
"The idea of not showing the killer, for me, the reason was it could be anyone because Sully is a person that has so [many] enemies," said Smith.
"The idea that one of these enemies came and shot him, for me, demonstrates what life can be like on the roads."
With no season six to look forward to, this ambiguous (yet effective) cliffhanger is torturous to fans.
If you're desperate to work out who the monster that made a meal out of Sully is, we have a couple of thoughts! We've rounded up a list of six possible suspects, each with a grievance against Sully that could have prompted any one of them to gun him down.
Did Stef kill Sully?
Stef had every reason to not only want Sully dead but also be the one who delivered the fatal shot.
Stef witnessing Sully's cold hit on his eldest brother Jamie (Michael Ward) in the season-four finale fueled much of Stef's season-five arc.
The impact of Jamie's death transformed him from a typical moody teenager to a grieving person full of rage. He turned his anguish outwards when he fell in with Si's clique and occasionally became uncharacteristically aggressive.
It seemed for a minute that Si (Dudley O'Shaughnessy) had been gearing Stef up to kill Sully, especially after he gifted him a gun and taught him how to shoot.
The thought was certainly in Stef's head by the closing chapter of this crime saga, as he confronted Sully moments before Sully was actually shot.
Pointing a gun at his brother's killer, he repeatedly asked: "How does it feel?"
Stef, however, seemed to reconsider things when Sully eventually admitted that feeling anything left him a long time ago and permitted Stef to "do what he had to do", meeting the boy with understanding and acceptance.
In the end, Stef decided that Sully wasn't worth it, and he told him so, walking away. In doing so, he regained some of his power by turning away from the lifestyle that placed his brother in Sully's crosshairs.
Or, so we thought. The figure who shot Sully in the head mere minutes later was suspiciously dressed in the same black hoodie and joggers as Stef.
It could be that Stef realised he couldn't let it go and turned back to finish what he'd started. This is the most likely, if somewhat obvious, conclusion.
However, the person who shot Sully did so with remarkable confidence and precision. We know that Stef had been practising his shot, but there's room to question whether or not he'd have become that deft that soon.
But at the same time, it's a TV show.
Just don’t ask Araloyin Oshunremi if Stef did it.
"Oh. They just told me my scene, they didn't tell me about anything else. They literally just told me: 'You're going to have to do this scene with Sully'," he previously told Digital Spy.
"When I was listening to them, I was thinking: 'I get what you guys are trying to do'. But at the same time no kid – who has had both their parents die, their best friend die, their older brother die, the person who was taking care of them while their brother was in jail die – is not going to shoot their brother's killer right in front of them.
"So I was like: 'OK, cool. I get that, you want to get him away from that cycle but if we're being realistic, anyone in that position is killing him'.
"I didn't know the end until very late. I was told on the way to a meeting in the car. When I got told the end in the car, I was kind of shocked. I didn't really expect it. But at the same time, everything has to come to an end. All characters must have an end, too.
"Sully [usually] gets away with murder, or he avoids death but when I saw that, I was like: 'Well, this is finally the end'.
"In all the other seasons, he escapes from death a lot. But he's the one who's always killing people, and it made you think he was invincible. So to end with him dying, it shows the audience that no one's invincible, and anyone can die."
Did Jaq kill Sully?
Jaq was another person with ample motive.
When Dushane stole the bag of drugs from her, Sully made it abundantly clear that Jaq wouldn't be getting a pass for her actions.
He also callously dropped the bomb that he had murdered her friend Kieron (Joshua Blisset) who was complicit in the theft, leaving Jaq feeling gutted and guilty for getting him mixed up in the situation.
A newly enlightened Jaq was also striving to live a straight life — one that would spare her nephew from the violence of the streets and allow her to build a life with Becks (Adwoa Aboah).
She couldn't have done any of this with Sully still alive. Therefore, it's very possible that the skilful shooter was Jaq. Perhaps it was one last act of violence before turning legit to protect her family, herself and out of a sense of justice for Kieron. After all, she's a pretty good shot.
The Guardian asked Jasmine Jobson directly if Jaq was responsible. Sadly, she wasn’t exactly forthcoming – but that could be because she doesn’t know!
"I can’t tell you that," she laughs. "I have no idea. Everybody’s asking. I’m hearing so many conspiracy theories. I like hearing everything, but I’ve no idea."
As for her actual final scene, it still makes her feel emotional.
"It was such a beautiful moment," she said, her eyes filling with tears. "I’m very in touch with my emotions, as you can tell. I was always raised to be a tough cookie and be very, very serious, you know? So learning how to be vulnerable was definitely a challenge for me."
Did Si kill Sully?
The last time Si and Sully were seen together, Sully had a gun rammed down his throat in front of his whole crew.
The gargled spluttering that followed as Si threw up the contents of his stomach and begged Sully to spare him for a grievance he swore he didn't commit was the pinnacle of emasculation on the streets. To quote Stef: "Si shit himself on some shook ting."
Si and Sully are from rival gangs, meaning they have a history of bad blood. Plus, that kind of disrespect from Sully would have certainly reverberated through Si's crew.
From Si's lens, it would be understandable if he felt Sully's actions couldn't have gone unchallenged. The problem is, if you challenge Sully, you'd better take him down because his clapback would slap twice as hard.
Maybe Si came to exactly the same conclusion.
Did Bradders and co kill Sully?
Bradders (Ivan Burdon) is a less plausible suspect but not totally out of the question.
Bradders was caught in the feud between Dushane and Sully during the season finale dispute.
At Sully's order, Bradders hunted Dushane with Rowmando (Ansu Njai) and Samsi (Ilani Marriot-Lodge) and caught a slug in the gut, courtesy of Dushane.
Instead of seeking help, Sully left him to bleed as he chased the only thing he truly cared about: the drugs.
With Dushane now dead, Bradders could have held Sully responsible for his near-death experience and sought revenge — if he survived being shot, that is.
However, this theory would require Bradders to be pretty mobile straight after being shot, so the more feasible explanation is that Rowmando and Samsi did what Bradders couldn't and finished Sully off on his behalf.
Especially if Bradders did die as a result of his wounds, the two could have been looking for retribution.
Did Erin kill Sully?
Erin (Savannah Graham) also falls into the category of 'unlikely killer'.
The studious teen with Parisian adventure dreams and a responsible attitude to safe sex doesn't exactly scream 'murderer', but she did have reason to want Sully dead.
Perhaps finding out that Sully killed Jamie sharpened any bitter, resentful emotions she felt towards Sully for the murder of her dad, Dris (Shone Romulus).
If so, Erin could have felt compelled to take action on behalf of her boyfriend Stef and herself as someone who has carried the weight of her dad's death in secret ever since he walked out the door that day and didn't return.
Yeah, we know, it's the longest stretch, but we wouldn't count her out. It's always the ones you least expect.
But don’t expect director William Stefan Smith to tell you. "I can understand some people want to know who killed Sully, but I won't be the one to tell you," Smith said (via Netflix).
That's despite the fact the original plan was to show the killer.
"The first way we shot the ending, we reveal the killer. That's what was on page."
"But then we had one more take and I was like, 'Let's do one where we don't see the killer'. Then, we put that in the cut, gave it to Netflix, gave it to the execs, Ashley and Kane saw it and I think everyone agreed it was just stronger."
"The idea of not showing the killer, for me, the reason was it could be anyone because Sully is a person that has so [many] enemies."
"The idea that one of these enemies came and shot him, for me, demonstrates what life can be like on the roads."
All episodes of Top Boy season 5 are available to stream on Netflix.
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TV writer, Digital Spy Janet completed her Masters degree in Magazine Journalism in 2013 and has continued to grow professionally within the industry ever since. For six years she honed her analytical reviewing skills at the Good Housekeeping institute eventually becoming Acting Head of Food testing. She also freelanced in the field of film and TV journalism from 2013-2020, when she interviewed A-List stars such as Samuel L Jackson, Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson. In 2021 she joined Digital Spy as TV writer where she gets to delve into more of what she loves, watching copious amounts of telly all in the name of work. Since taking on the role she has conducted red carpet interviews with the cast of Bridgerton, covered the BAFTAs and been interviewed by BBC Radio and London Live. In her spare time she also moonlights as a published author, the book Gothic Angel.
