Doctor Sleep ending explained: What happened to Danny?

Doctor Sleep is written and directed by Mike Flanagan, with Trevor Macy and Jon Berg producing it. The film is adapted from Stephen King's namesake 2013 novel and serves as a sequel to The Shining. Here's the official synopsis:

Still scarred by the trauma he endured as a child at the Overlook Hotel, Dan Torrance faces the ghosts of the past when he meets Abra, a courageous teen who desperately needs his help – and who possesses a powerful extrasensory ability called the “shine”.

The film stars Ewan McGregor, Rebecca Ferguson, Carl Lumbly, and Kyliegh Curran, among others.

In the book Doctor Sleep, Danny "Dan" Torrance survives the events at the Overlook Hotel and becomes a successful, sober, and mentally healthy man. He mentors Abra Stone, a young girl with the Shining, and they become close friends. In the film adaptation, the ending is different, suggesting that Danny sacrifices himself in the burning Overlook Hotel to save Abra.

What is the plot of Doctor Sleep?

A still from Doctor Sleep | Image via Warner Bros. YouTube

Doctor Sleep focuses on Dan Torrance, who has psychic abilities called the shining. He has resorted to alcohol to cope with the childhood trauma he experienced at The Overlook Hotel. His desire for a quiet life is quickly dashed when he meets Abra, a teenager who shares his extrasensory ability. They form an unlikely alliance to combat a cult known as the True Knot, whose members seek immortality by feeding on the shine of innocents.

How did Doctor Sleep end?

Towards the end of Doctor Sleep, Dan quickly turns into a mad person. He also holds Abra inside the hotel, precisely in room 237. He had rigged the boiler of the hotel for an explosion. Dan, who is possessed, is informed about it by Abra. Luckily, she manages to escape the hotel. He dies in the hotel as it burns down, and his death reunites him with his mom.

The film shows Danny talking to Abra, who is playing the same role that Dick Hallorann was in the Overlook Hotel. We see a younger version of Danny speaking to Hallorann. That's when his mother shows up and sees that Danny is sitting alone at the bench.

This thing is mirrored in the film when Abra and Danny are talking to each other, but when her mother arrives, we only see Abra. Just like in The Shining, the hotel in Doctor Sleep is used as a euphemism for addiction. Dan did not want to become like his father, who was an alcoholic. He ended his life and the hotel that caused him trauma so that he could dismantle the vicious cycle of addiction.

In an interview with Cinemablend, Ewan McGregor spoke about the film's theme of alcoholism. He said,

"I feel like we readdressed that in this. I think Mike [Flanagan] was always very clear that Stephen King had... I don't know Stephen, I've never met him, sadly, but Mike was very clear that The Shining was a novel that was written about alcoholism and addiction, and Doctor Sleep is a novel that was written about recovery."

He further added,

"My character, of course, as the young boy from The Shining is, when we find him, at his sort of rock bottom, and he is an alcoholic. I think it was really key. That was one of the reasons I wanted to play him so much, cause it's of interest to me, and the fact that he finds recovery and that it was very much central to his psyche for me to play him, I think."

What do you think of the film's ending?