What did the horned devil mean in The Death of Bunny Munro, and what was the ending about?

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The Death of Bunny Munro spoilers below

If you’re still trying to make sense of Matt Smith’s film, The Death of Bunny Munro, you’re not alone.

Okay, so I went into this show thinking it was going to be a pretty straightforward story about a guy changing his life. Honestly, I hadn’t read the book it’s based on, and I figured when they showed Bunny (Smith) seemingly ‘die,’ it was just the old, messed-up version of him finally gone, clearing the path for a better version to emerge. I was totally expecting a rebirth kind of thing!

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This isn’t about the Energizer Bunny having a lot of casual relationships. It’s about hoping someone—anyone—could be a good parent to a sweet, thoughtful child like Bunny Junior (Rafael Mathé).

It’s hard to accept that things didn’t happen the way we expected, and the ending was likely just as shocking for viewers.

Although Bunny’s death wasn’t entirely unexpected, the circumstances surrounding it were incredibly strange and raised a lot of troubling questions that remain unanswered.

Did the mysterious, horned figure actually exist? What motivated his pursuit of Bunny, and what did he symbolize? Ultimately, why did Bunny surrender to this dark force?

We may just have the answers you’re looking for.

Was the horned devil in The Death of Bunny Munro real?

Yes, the horned devil is first mentioned through the late Libby, Bunny’s wife, before she dies by suicide.

I was totally floored when I heard Libby on the phone with Bunny. She sounded like she was about to fall apart, and she blurted out that there’s a guy attacking women with a pitchfork somewhere up north! Apparently, it’s all over the news, she said – ‘Bun it’s on the telly!’ It was so shocking to hear her so upset.

“He paints his face red and wears these horns. Plastic horns.”

Bunny brushed off Libby’s worries, but he soon regretted it. Shortly after her death, Bunny and Junior traveled across Southern England, unknowingly shadowed by a horned devil who was also heading south, steadily closing the distance between them.

But was the horned devil really after Bunny? That’s much harder to unpick.

Why was the horned devil after Bunny in The Death of Bunny Munro and what did it represent?

Actually, the horned devil wasn’t targeting Bunny at all. The evidence doesn’t even confirm he was the one who killed her. We only ever saw the devil connected to a unique cement truck – the same one from Bunny’s dream after Poodle (Johann Myers) died – but never his face.

At some point, Bunny began to identify with the idea of the devil. He used the devil as a symbol for the difficult and unpleasant aspects of his own personality that he wasn’t willing to acknowledge.

Watching the killer move south, it really felt like his own inner darkness was finally catching up to him. The way he spoke and how clearly his mind was falling apart throughout the story made that super obvious. It was like we were seeing him unravel as he went, and it was honestly terrifying.

A newspaper headline – “Man in Devil Horns Terrorizes Women” – reminded the author of a particularly wild and unpredictable version of their character, Bunny. A version they haven’t encountered in the story… but might soon.

The symbolism is vivid and grows stronger across the course of the series. Eventually the language moves on from referring to the devil as a “menace,” causing “chaos” to a “horned assailant terrorising female shoppers,” before finally landing on “killer” as a descriptor.

The killer consistently targets women, a pattern that mirrors Bunny’s behavior – though Bunny operates as a con man who preys on women through deceptive sales tactics.

Look, I’m playing as Bunny, and honestly, he’s starting to freak out. He doesn’t want to be involved in all this trouble, but he feels like he needs to escape, telling Junior we gotta get out of town because things are seriously messed up. The problem is, every bad decision he makes – like ignoring Junior or accidentally getting Poodle into that awful accident – just makes things worse. You can feel the pressure building, like whatever’s chasing him is getting closer and closer. It’s like he’s trying to run from himself and his mistakes, and it’s not going well.

He’s starting to lose his grip on reality, and a newspaper headline – “Horned Madman Spotted in East Sussex” – seems to reflect his descent into it.

Bunny becomes upset and unravels after his overly forward attempt to flirt with a waitress doesn’t go well.

The breakup happens while he’s already feeling deeply upset, leading him to act erratically in public. He starts aggressively trying to sell his equipment to people at their homes and bothers women on the street, even following them while trying to make a sale.

After facing repeated rejection, his mental state deteriorates, and the formerly confident womanizer is brought low, reduced to desperately pleading for attention in the streets with a shocking and humiliating cry: “I’m Bunny Munro, will anyone have me?”

After a single phone call, Bunny fully proves how low he’s sunk. He contacts ‘Alice’, a sex worker whose advertisement explicitly offered the services he was just desperately requesting.

When Bunny went to Alice’s house, she was heavily under the influence of drugs and unable to respond. He still attempted to interact with her, but thankfully, he was too drunk to be successful.

At the Beauty Expo, news spreads that the person responsible for the attacks has been apprehended. But the man checking Bunny in seems to believe the danger is still present.

“That’s ridiculous,” he told Bunny. They arrested the wrong person. The true villain is still free,” and even though he sounded like someone caught up in a conspiracy theory, Bunny surprisingly agreed, saying, “I know, he’s coming after me.” Soon enough, Bunny’s fears came true, and the villain found him.

After a quick, honest conversation with Junior, Bunny left him at the expo and went to face whatever was going to happen next.

He sees the familiar yellow cement truck and deliberately walks into the street, accepting its impact. But was that truck actually the devil in disguise, and if it was, why did Bunny willingly face it?

Why did Bunny give himself up to the horned devil?

Although The Death of Bunny Munro doesn’t explicitly state what happened, it strongly suggests the horned devil was caught and wasn’t the one who killed Bunny.

Bunny’s struggles with grief and substance abuse led him to connect the harm he experienced in the real world with an inner darkness. He began to see the source of his pain as a kind of personal devil, and ultimately, that pain consumed him.

Although it seems like Bunny’s death might be a result of a deal with the devil – perhaps even a form of punishment or release – it’s more probable that he was simply hit by a vehicle.

Don’t miss the premiere of The Death of Bunny Munro on Sky Atlantic this Thursday at 9pm! All episodes will be available to stream on Sky and NOW. Also, the latest issue of Living Legends is out now, featuring Ariana & Witches. You can find it in newsagents or online for only £8.99.

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2025-11-29 10:21