Dayle’s fate in Animals, Ben Affleck’s Netflix thriller, could have turned out quite differently. Gillian Anderson has revealed that she and Affleck talked about changing the ending so viewers wouldn’t know for sure whether Dayle survived. It would have been a much more elusive way to end her story, leaving audiences with questions and possibly giving the filmmakers room to bring her back later.
But that version never made it to the screen. Speaking to ScreenRant, Anderson confirmed that they did consider leaving Dayle’s fate open to interpretation, though there’s no secret alternate cut waiting to be released. The version currently streaming on Netflix makes it pretty clear what happens to her, and there’s little room to argue that she survives.
Why Dayle’s Death Matters in Animals
In Animals, Ben Affleck plays Mark Kimball, an independent candidate running for mayor of Los Angeles. His campaign is already under pressure when his son is kidnapped, but things get even messier when the boy eventually returns home with the family’s housekeeper, revealing that her son was actually the one taken. With so much of the family’s money tied up in Mark’s political ambitions, he and his wife Abigail (Kerry Washington) find themselves in a desperate situation, willing to go further than they probably ever imagined.
That’s where Sam (Steven Yeun), Mark’s assistant, comes in. He connects the couple with Dayle, a mysterious fixer who knows how to get the money they need and deal with the kidnappers. The plan quickly falls apart near the L.A. River. Dayle’s associate kills two of the kidnappers but is then shot himself, while Dayle is left mortally wounded. She dies just as Mark takes her phone, desperate to get rid of anything that could connect him to the violent mess he has helped create.
Dayle’s death isn’t just another grim moment in an already brutal thriller. It matters because of who Mark thinks he is. Throughout the film, he presents himself as a candidate who won’t get his hands dirty with the kind of backroom deals that usually come with politics. But Dayle’s phone contains evidence that he has crossed those very lines. Getting rid of it becomes one more step in Mark’s moral collapse, and by the end, the distance between the man he claims to be and the man he has become is pretty hard to ignore.
If Dayle had survived, that ending might have played out very differently. Mark would have had to live with the possibility that she could return with the evidence, or use what she knew against him. Keeping her alive would have left a loose end hanging over his future, while her death allows the film to close that particular chapter. And given Dayle’s position as a shadowy fixer with connections and influence, it’s easy to imagine how her character could have carried a future story. That said, Netflix hasn’t announced any plans for a sequel or spin-off.
Animals Went Through Several Changes Before Filming
The discussion about Dayle’s ending is just one part of the film’s longer development. Animals went through some significant changes before it reached Netflix. Affleck was initially attached to direct, while Matt Damon was set to play Mark and Jennifer Garner was lined up for the role of Abigail. After Damon and Garner left the project, Affleck stepped in as the lead actor as well, and the original script by Connor McIntyre and Billy Ray was reworked.
Those changes show how much a film can shift before it finally gets made, but they don’t mean an alternate ending was actually filmed. Anderson’s comments point to a version that was discussed, not a different cut that audiences have somehow missed. For now, Dayle’s story ends the way it does in the film. Whether there’s ever more to tell will depend on what happens next for Animals on Netflix, and at this point, any return for Anderson’s character is only speculation.