The Favourite left a lasting impact when it first hit cinemas in 2018, and even now, people still argue over what that ending meant. Yorgos Lanthimos, the director of the film, brought to life a historical drama where Olivia Colman won her first Oscar for portraying Queen Anne.
The queen finds herself at the centre of a fierce rivalry between her trusted confidante Lady Sarah (Rachel Weisz) and her newest servant, Abigail (Emma Stone). These two women keep playing mind games with each other in a bid to become Anne’s closest companion, especially after Sarah decides to mentor Abigail.
Abigail may have won the crown, but lost herself in the process (Photo: The Favourite/Element Pictures)Eventually, only one of them can take the position, but after all the scheming, one can still wonder if the so-called winner gained anything real.
By the time the movie closes, viewers are left with an unsettling final image that raises plenty of questions about Abigail’s fate and the deeper meaning of the ending. It also brings into focus the symbolic relevance of Queen Anne’s 17 rabbits, each representing a child she lost.
What did the ending of The Favourite mean?
Once Abigail ties the knot with Colonel Masham to regain her status as a Baroness, she continues her efforts to push Sarah out of favour and remain Anne’s closest companion. Interestingly, it’s Sarah who accidentally gives her the upper hand.
Sarah threatens to expose her letters from Anne, which would reveal the romantic nature of their connection. Though she decides against revealing them, her actions still upset Queen Anne enough for her to be dismissed from court.
She makes an effort to patch things up by writing Anne a letter of apology, but Abigail intercepts it and destroys the message. Then she accuses Sarah of stealing money while serving as Keeper of the Privy Purse.
Even though Anne doesn’t believe the accusation, she uses it as justification to exile Sarah and her husband after not receiving the apology she was expecting. But as time passes, Anne begins to regret this decision, especially when Abigail starts neglecting her and using her new power to serve her interests.
Abigail’s downfall begins when she cruelly presses one of Anne’s rabbits underfoot. The Queen notices and immediately demands a leg massage from Abigail. While doing so, she holds Abigail by the hair, refusing to let her go.
That closing scene of The Favourite shows Abigail giving the massage, clearly uncomfortable, while Anne looks just as unhappy. Their faces fade into each other before the shot transitions to Anne’s rabbits, and the movie ends from there.
This unsettling close suits Lanthimos’s dark style, and it suggests that Abigail, despite thinking she gained something, has just become one more pet in Anne’s life. Her position might even be worse than the rabbits, because at least they represent Anne’s lost children, while Abigail is simply another tool to fill a void.
That’s quite painful to realise.
What happened to Abigail in The Favourite?
During their last conversation before Sarah’s exile, she tells Abigail, “Oh my God, you think you have won.” Abigail answers back, mocking her, saying, “Haven’t I?” But Sarah responds with, “We were playing very different games.”
Queen Anne’s court was no place for mercy or mistakes (Photo: The Favourite/Element Pictures)Even with all her efforts to rise in status, Abigail discovers she has no control over Anne, who still holds the power as Queen. Sarah probably knew this too, but because she remained emotionally connected to Anne, she never received the same cold treatment that Abigail got in the final moment.
Even though Abigail might be the one most visibly unhappy, Queen Anne doesn’t find much joy either. She drove away the only person who truly cared for her and replaced her with someone who only chased influence.
That last image in The Favourite captures both Abigail and Anne facing the bitter truth of their relationship. Neither one of them gains real joy from how things have turned out. Historically, Abigail stayed in the Queen’s favour until Anne passed away on August 1, 1714.
After that, she stepped back from court life and lived quietly in the countryside. Her husband, Samuel, later took the position of King’s Remembrancer under George I in 1716. Abigail passed away on December 6, 1734, while Samuel lived on until 1758.
