Keep Breathing: Ending explained and will there be a season 2?

Warning: Spoiler alert!

Keep breathing ending
(Image credit: Netflix)

Keep Breathing is Netflix's new survival drama which sees New York lawyer Liv attempt to escape the wild after her plane crashes. Those who have binged all episodes have been looking for answers to the Keep Breathing ending - which was a little ambiguous to say the least.

Liv was heading to Canada in a private plane to reunite with her estranged mother when her plane crashed in the Canadian wilderness. The drama series focuses solely on Liv and how she battles the elements alone, as well as her own demons including past memories coming back to haunt her, not to mention the fact she's pregnant with her co-worker boyfriend's child. Following in the success of Netflix shows such as D.B Cooper Where are You? The series has been gripping.

But like the You Don't Know Me ending  and The Undeclared War ending, many viewers have been left confused over how it wrapped up. Here's everything you need to know about the Keep Breathing ending.

Keep Breathing: Ending explained

By the end of the series, Liv is well and truly at rock bottom. Although she'd just managed to find a way out of the cave she'd fallen into, just as she climbs out of the cave, she takes a horrific fall back down to ground level and breaks her leg.

Liv also realised that she'd left her bag of supplies behind. But despite the setbacks, she managed to get back on her feet, found a strong branch to help support her weight, and started forging a path through the forest in what she felt could be her final moments.

Liv had a fleeting moment of optimism after hearing what she thought were cars. However, she soon realised she wasn't any closer to civilization, as when she carried on walking, she came across a huge river rather than a road. 

At the water's edge, she hallucinates an image of her father, who helps her come to terms with everything that happened in her childhood. Liv then decides to head into the water. Initially, she grabs onto a log for safety, but as she fast water gets the better of her, she loses her grip and begins floating downriver on her own whilst memories of her past - and visions of her future - flash before her eyes. As she floats down, she eventually closes her eyes and falls unconscious.

Two men eventually save her, pulling her out of the water, but Liv is clearly in a bad way and thanks to the many hallucinations she's had throughout the ordeal, it's not entirely clear if she survives.

Does Liv survive?

While the ending is ambiguous, the show's producers have confirmed that Liv definitely did survive. At the end of the final episode, when two men rescue her from the river, Liv finally wakes up, gasping for breath. 

We then see flashes of her giving birth to her child with boyfriend Danny in the hospital. This is the part that left viewers confused as this could have been a hallucination, or a flash-forward.

But clearing things up, show co-creator Brendan Gall said: "The ending is literal in that she survives. We see her wake up again and take that breath. The ambiguous part, the part up for interpretation, is whether the images of her and Danny going to the hospital are flash forwards or her imagined future when she believes she's dying. Both are valid."

While co-creator Martin Gero added: "But she survives. She absolutely survives."

Keep breathing ending

(Image credit: Netflix)

How many episodes in the Netflix series Keep Breathing?

Keep Breathing consists of six episodes ranging between 30 and 40 minutes in length. You can watch the entire series now on Netflix.

Show co-creator Martin Gero has revealed how he and Brendan Gall came up with the plot, explaining: "We started four years ago coming out of working on Blindspot, which was the loudest hour of television. 

"We started talking about what the quietest show we could make [would be], and it grew out of that. We were dealing with anxiety, being Canadians living in America, and we found it incredibly restorative to go up to the Canadian wilderness in our off time. 

"The idea of a serene thriller, a show that could be terrifying and urgent to watch, but could have moments of serenity, started to unfold."

Keep breathing ending

(Image credit: Netflix)

Will there be a season 2 of Keep Breathing?

At the moment, it doesn't look like Keep Breathing will have a second season. Netflix billed the show as a "limited series," which suggests there were no plans for another season during production of the first season.

Plus, there's the small matter that she survived her time in the wilderness, so it's pretty hard to imagine how she could find her way into another life-or-death situation.

That being said, with the show ending on a bit of a cliffhanger, there is definitely scope for a second season.

Before renewing any season, Netflix reviews data regarding the viewership of the show; for example how many people watched it. More often than not, based on this data, Netflix can quickly decide regarding cancellations and renewals of a show. But this can take months, so watch this space.

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Robyn Morris
Entertainment writer - contributor

Robyn is a freelance celebrity journalist with ten years experience in the industry. While studying for a degree in Media and Cultural Studies at London College of Communication, she did internships at Now and Heat magazines. After graduating, she landed a job at Star magazine, where she worked her way up to features editor. She then worked at Future as Deputy Celebrity Content Director across Woman, Woman’s Own, Woman’s Weekly and Woman & Home magazines.