Netflix's Run Away ending explained: James Nesbitt and Ruth Jones reveal they didn't predict [spoiler] ...Middle East

*Warning: This article contains spoilers for the final episode of Run Away.*

Harlan Coben thrillers always pack in plenty of twists in the fateful final episode, but going into Run Away's eighth episode, some shock deaths and plot developments left us wondering just how the Netflix series would wrap up.

It became all too clear that Paige (Ellie de Lange) found herself caught up in the The Shining Haven cult. But how did she find herself crossing paths with these people? Going into the finale, murderous cult member Dee-Dee (Maeve Courtier-Lilley) was not only heading up the mission to pluck off the cult's kill list one by one, she also engineered the murder of Elena (Ruth Jones), who was killed at the end of episode 6.

The penultimate episode saw James Nesbitt's Simon Greene come face to face with Dee-Dee and Ash (Jon Pointing) in a deadly shootout that saw Ash killed, Simon shot and Dee-Dee thrown off of a balcony by a fellow mysterious Shining Haven member. So, going into the finale, it was really was all to play for and Paige's involvement and whereabouts remained a mystery. The finale developments were ones that Jones herself admitted to RadioTimes.com that she "couldn't see coming," while Nesbitt admitted that it as all "pretty shocking".

But what twists were in store in the final episode of Run Away and what went down? Read on for a full breakdown of the episode, with some exclusive insight from stars James Nesbitt and Ruth Jones too.

Run Away ending explained: What happens to Simon?

As he's being whisked away to hospital, Simon tells paramedics to pass on a message to Detective Fagbenle (Alfred Enoch) that he's got a lead on Paige. We then see Fagbenle and his team raid Shining Haven where members of The Beacon of the Shining Truth reside. Unfortunately, they don't find Paige but they do find the cult leader, Casper Vartage.

The centre of several abuse allegations and a suspect in multiple disappearances, Fagbenle is keen to nab him but they don't find him initially. Fagbenle eventually finds him hiding out, about to take a deadly pill so as to avoid going to prison for his crimes. Luckily, Fagbenle tackles him just in time and arrests him.

Going to visit Simon in hospital, Fagbenle has connected the dots of this complicated web of people. He tells Simon that Aaron was actually born in the cult, as were his multiple half-brothers who were all adopted illegally and fathered by Vartage. Vartage deemed them all to be un-divine and so, hired a hitman to kill them all, knowing that the brothers had found one another. As we knew, Vartage had hired Dee-Dee and Ash to do the job.

As for the mysterious woman who effectively saved Simon's life from Dee-Dee by killing her, Fagbenle urges Simon to tell him if he sees her again. Simon promises to do so but in a flashback, we see that she actually came to visit Simon the evening prior.

Known as Mother Adiona, she tells Simon about her extensive time in The Shining Truth. She says that when she had a son, she was told that he would be the next leader but when she had another, she was told by Vartage that she'd have to give him up. The year before, she tried finding him on a DNA website and was successful, tracking him down and meeting him. However, she was made aware of the plan to kill all of the younger brothers and couldn't just stand by. She thanks Simon for not telling the police that she actually killed Dee-Dee but doesn't have good news for him as she says she doesn't know if Paige is actually at Shining Haven or not.

As the months go by in a montage, we see Simon restored back to full health and determined to track down Paige, going round the town with her picture and talking to strangers. In that time, we see that Fagbenle has unfortunately found Elena buried in the woods and informs Lou (Annette Badland) and Simon of the sad news. One day when Simon goes to visit Ingrid (Minnie Driver) in hospital though, he spots a familiar figure: Paige.

What happened to Paige and was she found?

It turns out that Paige was in rehab this whole time and with no access to her phone or the internet, she was none the wiser about what had unfolded until her counsellor had informed her about Ingrid. Once she heard the news, she rushed straight to the hospital to see her mother but having been sober for one month, explains to Simon that she finds the hospital setting triggering for a relapse.

Paige later says that she did find Aaron dead at their flat and didn't know what to do because it looked as if she may have been responsible. Paige said she hid out and then went to rehab but when Simon asks how she even came to know about where to go, she tells him that she'd actually been there before. She was doing well until Aaron had broken into the rehab facility and shot her up with drugs in her sleep, which made her leave rehab with him the following day.

Paige eventually admits that Ingrid had taken her to rehab, with Ingrid telling Paige that she'd actually been there herself when she was younger. Simon was none the wiser to any of this but insists on driving Paige back the following day.

But when they pull up, Simon confronts Paige about some holes in her story about the night that Aaron was killed. It was clear that Dee-Dee and Ash were visiting the estate for the first time when they attacked Simon and Cornelius, but that wouldn't have been the case if they'd been there to kill Aaron some time before. Paige admits that she couldn't get clean if Aaron was still around and so, killed him.

Simon doesn't believe her so asks if Paige went to Ingrid after Aaron had beaten her up. Ingrid told Paige to go back to rehab but when she'd gone back to the flat, she'd found Aaron dead. After sleeping for days, she'd reached a realisation that it was actually Ingrid that killed Aaron in a bid to protect Paige. Simon admits that they won't tell Ingrid they know and that the secret will stay with the both of them.

Later, we see that Ingrid awakes from her coma and all is well within the Greene family once again. Simon attends Elena's funeral as we see that she is buried next to her husband Joel and after her time at rehab, Paige returns home after being collected by Simon.

As Ingrid and Simon take a walk in the park one day, Simon confronts Ingrid about Aaron's murder. Ingrid said she'd planned on killing Aaron after Paige told her that he'd beaten her up. Having seen a news story about a gang killing, Ingrid decided to make the murder look as though it was connected to that. Simon finds it hard to understand how Ingrid could've kept Paige being in rehab a secret, given the fact that he was out for months trying to look for her.

Ingrid also admits that nothing happened with her co-worker Jay and he was simply her alibi for the night. Jay was worried about her so followed her that evening, but Ingrid managed to lose him and go to kill Aaron. When she was leaving the flat though, she saw local drug dealer Luther, who was the person that fatally shot her. It's now clear that he shot her because when he saw her in the drug den that evening, he thought she was there to kill them too.

Ingrid explains that she didn't tell Simon in a bid to protect him so that if she was arrested, Simon would still be there to look after their children. They vow to not keep anymore secrets and all seems well. That is, until Simon has a hunch and goes to Ingrid's sister Yvonne's home looking for old pictures. Simon recalls a Christmas where Ingrid got mad after Yvonne started showing pictures of a young Ingrid from her modelling days. He finds the pictures in question and one drops out, which makes Simon stop in his tracks.

What does Simon find out about Ingrid?

Later that day, Simon returns home to find his family preparing lunch and enjoying each other's company. He finds Paige outside in the garden playing her guitar and goes to have a chat with her, enquiring about her feelings towards Aaron.

Simon tells Paige that he always found it odd that in Paige and Aaron's flat, there were two single mattresses on either side of the room as opposed to a double that they shared. Simon then goes on to tell Paige that he went to visit Doug Mulzer to confront him about what he did to Paige. But Doug told Simon that he was attacked himself by a man in a balaclava, with Paige admitting that it was Aaron. However, Doug mentioned to Simon that when Aaron was beating him, he screamed: "No one hurts my sister."

Paige was on a genealogy site too as part of her university project and found out that Aaron was her half-brother, meaning that Ingrid was their mother. Simon retrieves the picture he took from Yvonne's house and gives it to Paige. That's when we see that it's of a younger Ingrid who's pregnant and standing in front of a symbol for The Shining Truth.

Paige says that Ingrid told her that she'd never gone modelling abroad when she was younger and was actually part of this cult. She got pregnant and had a baby but thought it was stillborn. She eventually escaped and went to rehab, the same one that she took Paige to. Paige explains the rollercoaster of emotions that came with finding out about Aaron being her brother, explaining that Aaron was obviously the one to introduce her to drugs.

Paige says that she did confront Ingrid about having a child before her, but Ingrid explained that she thought he was stillborn. In the throws of her addiction, Paige didn't believe her and obviously ran away. Now, she's having to reckon with the fact that she not only drove her mother to kill Aaron, but that Aaron was her own son.

Paige tells Simon that they can never tell Ingrid about who Aaron actually was, saying that it will destroy her. Simon doesn't want to keep anymore secrets but seems to understand that it really would have bad consequences if he told Ingrid who Aaron was to her.

Speaking to RadioTimes.com about that series of twists in the finale, Harlan Coben said: “This one has more twists and turns than any. Episode 8 especially – you’ll think you have it solved once, twice and that last minute, you’ll have one more. It has to be emotional, it had to be a twist that would not only make you gasp out loud but hits you in the heart a little bit.”

Similarly, in regards to what transpired in the finale, Jones said: “I didn’t actually [see what was coming].”

Nesbitt said: "[Harlan Coben's] very good at those twists. In a sense because he’s done so many of them, you’d think you would get it. But you’re still so distracted. You’re so involved in it, you’re just watching where it goes and it just takes different routes all the time. When you finally get to the end, I think it’s quite the shock.”

With Run Away marking his third role in a Harlan Coben series, when asked how this finale compared to his others, Nesbitt said: “I think it was pretty shocking. I mean, Stay Close was pretty shocking I have to say. In a sense, you’re just playing the role, you’re not really thinking about how to get there, you’re just getting there slowly and then before you know it, it’s done. But yeah, obviously you have to play just what it given to you. And what is often given to you is traumatic and shocking.

Read our guide to the best Christmas TV for 2025.

Run Away will premiere on 1st January 2026 on Netflix – sign up from £5.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media.

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