This post contains spoilers for Last Christmas.
It’s not even December yet, and already there’s a big screen Christmas movie here to warm your heart — or, maybe, just to validate your fan theory. Last Christmas, a new holiday film starring Emilia Clarke and Crazy Rich Asians heartthrob Henry Golding, had fans suspicious about its potentially major twist the moment it dropped its first trailer. Was Golding playing a hot ghost the entire time?
Last Christmas stars Clarke as Kate, a mess of a person who survived a medical crisis and now works as an elf in a Christmas shop. When she meets Golding’s Tom, a perpetually optimistic stranger who volunteers at homeless shelters, and generally seems too good to be true, Kate gets inspired to turn her life around. However, just as Kate embraces the holiday spirit and starts taking responsibility for her life, she realizes there may be something...off with Tom. Why is he constantly disappearing on her? Why doesn’t he keep his phone on him?
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The answer, my dears, is simple: Tom is a ghost. Specifically, Tom is the ghost of the person whose heart Kate received the previous Christmas. How these people sing George Michael’s “Last Christmas” so many times (“last Christmas, I gave you my heart…”) and never put that together is beyond me.
The truth is revealed when Kate goes to Tom’s apartment and finds a real estate agent attempting to sell the place. She initially thinks that Tom may simply be squatting in the unit, but when Kate learns from the agent that the owner died a year earlier in a biking accident, she finally puts the pieces together. Kate underwent surgery a year ago, and Tom was her donor.
Tom knew he was a ghost the entire time, which is why, despite seemingly falling for Kate as she was for him, he kept her at an arm’s distance. All the things that Tom did with Kate, such as ice skating and walking around London, Kate was seemingly doing “alone” — only she could see Tom. This is why no one else directly interacted with Tom, why Tom always wore the same outfit, and why he seemingly avoided bumping into anyone on the street.
The truth about Tom was a surprise to Kate, but the twist was pretty obvious to most who watched the previews for the film. The Last Christmas trailers also showed Tom exclusively interacting with Kate, popping up out nowhere, and wearing the exact same outfit despite their interactions happening on different days. In the teasers, Kate is also revealed to have been "sick" at one point, which made people pretty convinced that Tom was the one who donated his heart to her — per Michael's lyrics.
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Plus, is it even a Christmas movie if a well-meaning ghost doesn't guide you through life?
Last Christmas Theory : He is the ghost of the Organ Donor who Donated his Heart to Her when she got "Really sick last Christmas".
— The Left Hon. Jack Carlin MP QC Esq. (@carlinjack1) November 4, 2019
What if the twist in LAST CHRISTMAS is that both the audience and Emilia Clarke become convinced that Henry Golding is an angel/a ghost/all in her head but actually he's a real dude who's just improbably perfect
— Alison Willmore (@alisonwillmore) August 14, 2019
can’t wait to find out if Last Christmas is a “surprise he’s a ghost” or “surprise he’s an angel” movie
— Gus Thee Theatre Cat (@braniejyant) November 6, 2019
So my theory is the male lead is actually the ghost of the guy whose heart she received in a transplant. As in “last Christmas, I gave you my heart....” https://t.co/yXKvDNsCPL
— John Gregory (@johngregoryx) November 6, 2019
Technically, fans could have figured out the twist based on the filmmaker's panel at CinemaCon. Emma Thompson — who co-wrote the film and also plays Kate’s mother in the movie — revealed during the panel that she initially told director Paul Feig she did not want to do a movie based on Michael’s “Last Christmas” because she didn’t care for the song. It was only when she really thought about the specific lyrics “last Christmas/I gave you my heart” did she tell Feig that she “could think of something” in terms of story. The heart was literal the whole time!
For fans who are a little bummed that Kate and Tom don’t end up together, there is a sweet moment at the end of the movie that puts it all into perspective. As Tom tells Kate in the film, his heart was always meant to be hers — one way or another.
See if you can catch the clues in the trailer below: