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Everyone Is Debating What Really Happened To Izzy At The End Of Little Fires Everywhere

Kaitlin Reilly
Last Updated April 22, 2020, 6:21 PM
Photo: Courtesy of Hulu.
The drama on the finale of Hulu series Little Fires Everywhere set the internet aflame over the way things between for youngest Richardson sibling Izzy (Megan Stott) and her mother Elena (Reese Witherspoon), whom many fans have labeled the villain of the series. (Spoilers ahead.)
After a season of small-but-significant battles, Izzy learns her mother evicted artist Mia (Kerry Washington) and daughter Pearl (Lexi Underwood). Izzy, distraught and furious, goes to the garage, grabs a can of gasoline, and starts dousing her own bedroom, planning to start a fire. Her siblings — Tripp (Jordan Elsass), Moody (Gavin Lewis), and Lexie (Jade Pettyjohn) — attempt to calm her down, but when Elena comes in, she and Izzy have a heated confrontation. Elena spews cruel words at her daughter, telling Izzy she never wanted her in the first place. The siblings are horrified at their mother’s choice of words, and Izzy packs up her things and leaves the house immediately. 
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Elena goes back to bed, but Tripp, Moody, and Lexie realize that maybe Izzy had a good point. Maybe they do need to burn down everything, if only to avoid becoming like their mother. They start the “little fires” that lead to the Richardson house becoming engulfed in flames. 
After the fire, Elena seemingly realizes just how badly she’s screwed up as a mother. She tells the police officer on the scene she’s responsible for the fire, which, while not the whole truth, is accurate. 
Elena later searches for Izzy in Mia’s old apartment, but she’s not there. A scene shows Izzy hitchhiking on the street, where she’s seemingly picked up by Mia and Pearl — but, this appears to be a fantasy, as later Izzy is shown, alone, on a bus. Mia and Pearl visit Mia’s parents house, and Izzy is not with them. What happens to Izzy is a mystery. 
In the book by Celeste Ng, Izzy also runs away from home, with intentions to seek out Mia and Pearl. However, unlike in the TV show, it’s Izzy who sets the fire at the Richardson house — something we know from the first page of the story. 
Fans aren’t totally sure what to make of the final Izzy moments. Will she find Mia and Pearl, and join them on whatever life path they take? Does she return to Shaker Heights willingly? Will Elena track her down, now realizing the terrible mistakes she’s made with her youngest child? 
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Showrunner Liz Tigelaar told Vulture she has an idea of what would happen to Izzy in the aftermath of the fire. 
“We talked a lot in the room about how we’re supposed to feel at the end about Izzy. How can we not be worried for her? But we also talked about the reality of the moment — that she probably would turn around after a few days and come home,” she told the outlet. 
As for whether we’ll find out what happened to Izzy definitively, Tigelaar teased to Entertainment Tonight that she’s open to a second season...but don’t hold your breath.
“This has been one of the best experiences of my life. I would be in that writers' room forever, and I would obviously write for Reese [Witherspoon] and Kerry [Washington] and everybody involved for the rest of my life. So, I want to say yes. In my heart I feel like it's a limited series, I feel like we told the story."
Many fans agreed:
It’s clear from Izzy’s last moment with her mother that their family needs some serious help understanding one another, but that doesn’t necessarily mean all hope is lost. Elena taking some responsibility for the fire shows she may understand how her actions hurt Izzy. 
“Right now, I feel like the series did such a good job of ending where you have an idea of what people’s trajectory is going to be,” Ng explained to Vulture. “We don’t see it, but we have an idea of what’s changed for each of them, and from that we can extrapolate.” 
What exactly happens to Izzy, therefore, is up for interpretation, but one can hope for the entire Richardson family’s sake that Elena can now recognize the extent of her quiet cruelty towards her daughter, and is capable of change.
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