Caught Stealing ending explained: What happens to Austin Butler's character?

Warning: This article contains spoilers about Caught Stealing.

We don't know if we'd call the ending of the new film Caught Stealing happy, but it's certainly a lot less dire than it could be.

The new Darren Aronofsky movie, now in theaters, follows Austin Butler's Hank Thompson, a former baseball player turned bartender who gets caught up in the web of drug dealers and murder when his neighbor, Russ (Matt Smith), asks him to watch his cat while he's out of town.

After Hank is attacked by men looking for Russ and a key that Russ has hidden from them, Hank is sucked into a criminal vortex (and loses a kidney). His girlfriend, Yvonne (Zoë Kravitz), is murdered, and he ends up on the run from two Orthodox Jewish gangsters, Lipa (Liev Schrieber) and Shmully (Vincent D'Onofrio).

Hank often talks to his mom, who is only a voice on the phone throughout the film. She asks about his day and their favorite team, the San Francisco Giants — and as he spirals further into the mess he finds himself in, he fears for her well-being and wants her to believe he's okay.

Along the way, he also crosses paths with drug kingpin Colorado (Bad Bunny), who helps Hank realize that Detective Roman (Regina King), whom he at first believes is his ally, is actually a dirty cop also on the take. She's in debt to Russian mob bosses and trying to find her way out.

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When Russ returns, Hank tries to force him to set things right (after dealing him a traumatic blow to his head with a baseball bat), and the two set off across New York City to ostensibly clear Hank's name. However, Russ tries to run, insisting he's keeping the money for himself and ends up dying from his head injury.

After Hank kills Lipa and Shmully by driving their van into a supporting beam of an overpass, he concocts his way out: He will become Russ, shaving his head and adopting Russ' punk style of dress. He takes Russ' drug money and mails it to his mom, who we finally see in the post-credits scene is played by Laura Dern (if you couldn't already tell from the voice). Mom opens the package from Hank to discover a box full of money. Ostensibly, Hank intends for her to use the money however she needs to while he disappears.

For his part, Hank escapes to Tulum, Mexico, using Russ' passport and toting Russ' cat, Bud. He sits down to enjoy a drink at the seaside bar, contemplating what this new life under his stolen identity might look like.

It's a bit of an ambiguous conclusion. Hank is safe for now, but if he wants to remain so, he can't have any contact with his mom or the people he loves. He has to completely start over under his new identity.

"It's a sad situation," the director says of where we leave Hank. "We wanted to give him a little bit of hope and potential."

And there's a bit of that Aronofsky, Butler & Co. to revisit the character. Caught Stealing is based on a 2004 Charlie Huston novel of the same name, to which there are two sequels. So, Hank could potentially return for more. But, if they don't get the greenlight, Aronofsky is happy with where they've left things.

"Both me and Austin are exhausted and at the end of Hank's journey," Aronofsky concludes, "but we'll see what popular demand says."

Caught Stealing is in theaters now.