Major spoilers for The End of Oak Street are ahead! You can catch the movie in theaters now.
Nothing stresses me out more while watching a movie than the possibility of an animal, and specifically a dog, dying. So, when I watched The End of Oak Street (which is getting wild reviews, by the way), I was very concerned for the Platt family’s dog, Starbuck. Thankfully, the blue heeler survived to the very end.
However, when CinemaBlend spoke to director David Robert Mitchell and producer J.J. Abrams about their film, they revealed that things could have ended differently for Starbuck. They also shared their thoughts on the sci-fi film’s time-twisting ending.
We Know, For A Fact, That The Dog Survives To The End Of The Movie
So, after the family played by Anne Hathaway (Denise), Ewan McGregor (Greg), Maisy Stella (Audrey) and Christian Convery (Brian) arrive in a land filled with dinosaurs, their dog, Starbuck, goes missing. Then, throughout the movie, which is actually a bit horror-esque and even takes some inspiration from Poltergeist, it’s implied that the pup might be dead. However, he makes a triumphant return and saves Brian toward the end of the film.
Considering how his fate is kind of up in the air for a lot of the movie’s runtime, though, CinemaBlend’s Jeff McCobb asked Mitchell and Abrams if they “ever considered pulling a Marley & Me” on Starbuck. Here’s how they responded:
- David Robert Mitchell: Everything's a consideration.
- J.J. Abrams: It was definitely in conversation, yes.
- David Robert Mitchell: We talked about it, yes.
- J.J. Abrams: The red band version of the movie might have a different—
Well, thank goodness this entry on the 2026 movie schedule is rated PG-13. I would have been beside myself if Starbuck died!
Overall, I’m so grateful they went the route they did and made the adorable pup one of the movie’s heroes, as the director explained:
When I looked at the page, and I saw it just for myself, the joy that I felt and having that moment of connection that, you know, I sort of joked it's a little bit of a Lassie moment, but I really felt it. And so, yeah, I mean, it was important that we have that in the movie.
Ultimately, Starbuck makes it to the very end of the movie, jumps through the portal with Denise, Audrey and Brian, and lives happily with the Platt family after they arrive back in the present...Well, kind of the present; they actually arrive a few minutes before they were taken in the first place. And to that point, while we can say with full confidence that the dog lives (thank goodness), the rest of the ending is a bit harder to pin down.
The Rest Of The End Of Oak Street’s Ending Should Be Kept Open-Ended
Now, while Starbuck absolutely survives this trip to the world of dinosaurs (even though they thought about killing him), the ending leaves us with questions about what exactly might happen after the family and their dog return to their time. Are they in a time-loop after jumping through that portal and landing a few minutes before they disappeared in the first place? Will they meet other versions of themselves eventually?
Those are questions we tried to ask, but David Robert Mitchell wanted to leave it all open-ended, telling CinemaBlend:
It's in the territory of a sort of time loop. It's a – I'd have a long-winded answer to that that is probably in the territory of maybe too much. My feeling is that there are -- we planted enough clues for things that you can just watch this, and you may just say, ‘Oh, I'm happy that the family's together.’ You may recognize some other layers to it. And I prefer for people to be able to pick that apart and build that after the fact. That's more fun for me.
When asked if he had his own ideas about what happened, Mitchell said he did. However, he would not reveal those details. He went on to explain that he doesn’t really want to say something happens a specific way. Instead, there’s “enough structure there within the story itself” that you can answer the questions about the ending yourself.
So, while a lot of that timey-wimey ending can be left up for debate, one thing we know for certain is that Starbuck, the dog who belongs on the list of best movie pets, survives.
