Dr. Nat Sharp is the person who physically kills Monsignor Jefferson Wicks. Martha Delacroix devised the original plot with Nat and Samson Holt: drug Wicks, fake his death, stage a resurrection, and keep him from taking the Eve’s Apple diamond. Nat turns that plan into a real murder by using a blood squib to make Wicks appear stabbed, then switching in a matching wolf’s-head ornament concealing a knife.
Who killed Wicks, and how?
Nat first helps create the illusion that Wicks has already been stabbed. On Good Friday, Wicks retreats after his sermon to a closet beside the pulpit and drinks from a flask hidden in a breaker box. Martha has laced it with a powerful tranquilizer from Nat’s medical supplies, and Wicks collapses.
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A red-painted wolf’s-head ornament is fastened to Wicks’s red vestments. It contains a small blood squib, which Nat triggers remotely. Jud sees the apparent blood and believes Wicks has been stabbed. Nat then uses his position as a doctor to approach the body under the pretense of examining it. He secretly swaps the squib-bearing ornament for a matching one with a knife attached. While Martha’s scream draws attention, Nat stabs Wicks for real.
Jud is briefly out of sight at the crucial moment, helping make the trick work and directing suspicion toward him. Nat also fails to remove the drugged flask; Jud hides it, leaving behind evidence of how Wicks was incapacitated. TIME reconstructs the timing and the false appearance of death in its ending explanation. Netflix’s ending explainer details the squib and ornament switch.
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How Nat’s role differs from Martha’s
| Role | What the person does |
|---|---|
| Physical killer: Nat Sharp | Stages the apparent stabbing, switches the ornaments, and stabs Wicks. |
| Original mastermind: Martha Delacroix | Devises the plan with Nat and Samson to drug Wicks, fake his death, and stage his return. |
Martha’s aim is to stop Wicks from taking the Eve’s Apple diamond and to make the congregation believe he has miraculously returned. Nat’s later choices are his own: he takes the diamond and kills Samson as the scheme unravels. His greed changes the intended outcome, so he is not simply carrying out Martha’s plan.
Why Martha planned the scheme
The diamond is tied to the church’s history and the Wicks family fortune. The church’s founder, Prentice—Wicks’s grandfather—hid it by swallowing it before he died. Martha is the only person who knows the secret. After she confesses its location, Wicks plans to open the family crypt, retrieve and sell the diamond, and pursue power with Cy. Martha believes he will destroy the church.
Rank #2
Her loyalty to Wicks and the parish collides with what she learns about his intentions. The family revelations deepen that conflict: Wicks is Cy’s biological father, and Wicks is preparing to leave the parish after learning about the fortune. The Netflix ending explainer and TIME’s account of the ending describe the plan and its motives.
What happens in the final scenes?
Wicks does not rise from the dead. During the staged resurrection attempt, the figure Jud sees emerge from the crypt is Samson, dressed in similar vestments. After Nat’s greed and the wider plot come to light, Martha confesses her role in the crimes, including her longstanding wrongdoing toward Grace. Jud responds with compassion but asks Martha to face the harm she caused. Martha has taken poison; she asks forgiveness and dies with the diamond in her hands.
Rank #3
Jud hides Eve’s Apple inside the new crucifix he makes for the church. The parish closes temporarily, then Jud reopens it as Our Lady of Perpetual Grace, with a sign welcoming all. That ending gives his response to Martha a practical counterpart: he offers compassion without pretending that her actions did no harm. The film’s actions also replace Wicks’s control through shame and fear with a more welcoming church.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why the locked-room trick fits the film
The murder depends on a manufactured appearance of death, a hidden moment, and a small prop swap—not on Wicks actually coming back to life. Netflix’s overview of the film’s influences says Rian Johnson drew on John Dickson Carr and the locked-door mystery tradition. Carr’s The Hollow Man, also published in the United States as The Three Coffins, is a genre companion and influence, not required reading to follow the film.
Rank #4
Netflix’s ending interview frames the story around Jud’s effort to become a good priest and offer forgiveness. Rian Johnson puts the importance of endings simply: “The reason I love movies is because I love endings.”
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