This wild Us theory about Jason completely changes the Jordan Peele horror movie

27 March 2019, 17:44

Sam  Prance

By Sam Prance

Us fans have a theory that adds a whole new dimension to the hit Jordan Peele film...

There is an Us theory about Jason that completely changes how you view the Jordan Peele horror movie.

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It only came out last week (Mar 22) but Us is already one of the most successful horror films of all time. In its debut weekend at the box office, Us racked up a whopping $71.1 million in the US alone and it's currently received universal critical acclaim with a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 95%. Give Lupita Nyong'o her Academy Award now. Naturally, it's spawned multiple wild theories thanks to its intricate plot but this new one changes everything.

Check out the Jason theory in full below.

Us theory: Is Jason actually Pluto? Is he a tethered?
Us theory: Is Jason actually Pluto? Is he a tethered? Picture: Universal Pictures

Viewers of Us will already know that it ends with a big twist. At the end of the film, we see Adelaide (Lupita Nyong'o) and her husband Gabe (Winston Duke) finally escape Santa Cruz in an ambulance with their daughter Zora (Shahadi Wright Joseph) and son Jason (Evan Alex). It's a sigh of relief. However, we then learn in a flashback that all is not as it seems. Adelaide is actually Red, after Red switched places with Adelaide as a child.

The film ends with Adelaide smiling at Jason in the ambulance. Jason then looks back at her and puts his mask on. At first, it looks as though he is disturbed because, like the audience, he is realising that Adelaide is one of the tethered but now a theory has arisen that Jason may actually be a tethered too. Fans believe that he and Pluto switched places in one of the summers before the film... and there is a lot of evidence for it.

The day Us came out, Reddit user hoopsterben posed the theory: “I believe the summer before the movie takes place, the boy and his ‘tethered’ also switched places … At the end, he has realized that his mother, at one point, has also switched bodies. She gives him a look almost like ‘I also know what you know’ and then he puts on his mask, as a symbol of the masks they will now wear for the rest of their lives.”

via GIPHY

Other people then pointed out that there are multiple things in Us that suggest that Jason might be Pluto. First things first, he enjoys playing in a dark space but is terrified of being trapped. Could the beach house closet remind him of home but also be linked to a trauma of being stuck underground? Then there is the fact that he digs tunnels at the beach not sand castles. Seems very tethered-like no?

Perhaps most damning of all is the fact that Adelaide seems genuinely mortified when Jason tricks Pluto into walking into the fire and he dies. It's almost as if she has worked out that he may actually be her son. Adelaide could simply be upset because she feels a connection to Pluto and/or is remembering that she is a tethered but there's a chance that she has realised that Pluto is Jason.

There is also a prominent theory that Jason forgot how to do is his magic trick from the summer before because he never actually did it. He is Pluto. Also all of his failed attempts at carrying out the magic trick above ground could have forced Pluto to successfully do the trick underground. If so this would explain how Pluto burned his face. Jason (who is Pluto) actually made him do it.

via GIPHY

Of course, like most theories, this Jason one appears to have a couple of holes. If he and Pluto switched, why could he talk so easily? Also wouldn't Adelaide have made the connections with her childhood if Jason also went through a period of not talking? Alternative theories claim that Jason and Pluto switched many summers before, but then that debunks the magic trick theory.

As we've established, there is evidence for and against this theory so, ultimately, it's up to you to decide if it works or not or if there are any glaring details we're missing on both sides of the argument. That being said, if Jordan Peele ever wishes to reveal where he sits on the theory, we will be sure to update you with what he says.

What do you think? Did Jason and Pluto switch?