Director explains real reason Frank killed his own son in Netflix’s The Whisper Man ending

In the Netflix thriller, after Frank Carter’s son, Francis Jr., is finally exposed as the new Whisper Man, the film reveals that his father has been waiting for his son to eventually get brought to his prison cell, only to kill him himself, so here’s why he did it.

Frank Carter, played by Michael Keaton, was already serving a life sentence after murdering five young boys. But when Pete Willis (Robert De Niro) returns to speak to him about his grandson Jake’s disappearance, Frank starts dropping clues about what is really going on.

The big reveal is that Francis Jr. (Owen Teague) has become The Whisper Man. He has been copying his father’s crimes in an attempt to get his approval. And to understand the man who destroyed his childhood.

As Ashcroft explained to Netflix’s Tudum, Francis Jr. is essentially trying to get something from his father that he was never going to receive. “He’s seeking his father’s approval,” Ashcroft said. “His motives are all about trying to please the father that could never be pleased.”

So, why did Frank actually kill his son?

The film establishes that Frank was abused by his father when he was a child. That trauma helped shape the man he eventually became. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Ashcroft explained, “I think that the more influential aspect about the character is that in his son, he sees his own weakness. He sees the last time in his life that he was vulnerable as a child who was being abused and suffered trauma himself. Which I think is a very real thing for someone to experience.”

Ashcroft continued, “But in Carter’s case, he’s somebody who cannot live with that level of vulnerability. And so he’s wanted to extinguish that for his whole life.”

Frank has murdered other children, but Francis Jr. is different. His son represents the weakness and trauma that Frank has never been able to escape.

Francis Jr. was always trying to get his father’s approval

Francis Jr. grows up knowing who his father is and becomes obsessed with him. He writes true-crime novels and eventually begins recreating the Whisper Man’s crimes. It is horrible, obviously, but the film explains that Francis Jr. is desperately trying to connect with his father.

Ashcroft told Tudum, “I think Francis somehow knows that by trying to get this approval and acknowledgement and connection with his father, that pursuing that and committing to that is the beginning of the end for him.”

Francis wants his father to recognise him. Frank, meanwhile, sees his son as a reminder of everything he hates about himself. So while Francis believes copying his father might finally bring them together, it actually leads him straight back to him.

And it is not a normal father-son reunion. Frank enters his son’s prison cell and kills him, making Francis Jr. the final victim of the original Whisper Man.

Ashcroft has said this is why the ending should not feel like a straightforward victory. “It’s not a downer ending in any way. Good does triumph, but we can’t celebrate that when Carter finally gets his hands on his son. And we should feel conflicted about that, because these are all broken men,” he told Entertainment Weekly.

In a separate interview with Time Magazine, Ashcroft said, “It’s not a fist bump moment of good guys vanquished by bad guys. That happens to some extent, but it’s also a tragic story. I love the idea of people walking away from a film in a grey space rather than the black and white one…That’s what makes you have a conversation after a film. That’s when a film exists long after the credits roll.”

For all the latest film and TV updates and hot takes, like our Facebook page.