The Hunt ending explained: Lucas' eventual fate revealed

The Hunt is a Danish film in the psychological drama genre. This Thomas Vinterberg-directed film is written by him and Tobias Lindholm. Vinterberg's also the producer along with Morten Kaufmann and Sisse Graum Jørgensen. Its official synopsis as described on Letterboxd is,

A teacher lives a lonely life, all the while struggling over his son’s custody. His life slowly gets better as he finds love and receives good news from his son, but his new luck is about to be brutally shattered by an innocent little lie.

Let us get into the details and find out what happens to the protagonist, Lucas, in the end.

Story of The Hunt

The Hunt focuses on a kindergarten teacher named Lucas. He's divorced and trying to get custody of his son. However, his life changes after a student accuses him of s*xual abuse inside the class. This triggers a mass hysteria among the people around him. Lucas tries to prove his innocence to everyone while living with the consequences of being labelled a pedophile. Mads Mikkelsen portrayed the role of Lucas in the film.

Ending of The Hunt

As The Hunt inches towards the end, we see the grocery store employees telling Marcus that he can't visit them. They tell him that their father is a pedophile. Lucas's arrest eventually takes place. Marcus confronts Klara to ask why she lied about being molested inside the classroom. Marcus' life has been upended as he can't spend time with his father.

Brunn tells him that Lucas does not have a basement in the house, which might favor him during the trial.

Lucas manages to get out of custody. He finds the dead body of his dog. After burying his pet dog, Lucas gets manhandled and beaten by employees of the nearby grocery store. Theo goes to see Klara inside the bathroom and asks her about Lucas. He figures out that she's been lying about all those allegations. Meanwhile, Lucas and Theo drink together and chat about their life. Some time passes, and we see Lucas back with Nadja.

Towards the end of The Hunt, Lucas and Klara have eventually reunited. He is helping her to walk. One year has passed since the rumor began. Meanwhile, the men are out hunting in the nearby estate. Marcus has joined the hunters community. Even Klara's father, Theo, is okay with him.

Lucas is sitting there alone when a bullet barely misses him. He turns around and sees a shadow of the shooter who is reloading his rifle. That person looks at Lucas and flees the scene. The film ends with Lucas sitting in silence after nearly dying. This scene establishes that the society will never accept Lucas. He will always be labelled as a pedophile despite no proof. There are people who are not okay being around him. So it establishes that someone will also try to target Lucas as long as he's alive.