The actress and director said she’s discussed Joe and Angela’s fate with costar Seth Rogen — and learned they don’t agree.

Even Olivia Wilde doesn’t know how *The Invite *actually ends

The actress and director said she’s discussed Joe and Angela’s fate with costar Seth Rogen — and learned they don’t agree.

By Shania Russell

Shania Russell

Shania Russell is a news writer at *, *with five years of experience. Her work has previously appeared in SlashFilm and Paste Magazine.

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July 14, 2026 5:22 p.m. ET

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Seth Rogen and Olivia Wilde in ‘The Invite’. Credit:

Courtesy of A24

- Not even director Olivia Wilde can decide what happens at the end of *The Invite.*

- The movie centers on a couple, played by Wilde and Seth Rogen, whose fraught marriage comes to a head when they invite their neighbors over for dinner.

- The ambiguous ending left many viewers with questions about what comes next — and Wilde is no exception.

**This post contains spoilers about *The Invite.***

Olivia Wilde achieved true ambiguity with the ending of *The Invite** — *because even she can’t decide what that final shot means.

Wilde, who directs and stars in the emotional comedy about a marriage coming apart at the seams, has revealed that even she isn’t sure what comes next for Angela (Wilde) and her husband, Joe (Seth Rogen).

When the film concludes, it’s abundantly clear that the couple’s fraught marriage has been forever changed by the evening spent with their sexually adventurous and emotionally mature neighbors, Hawk (Edward Norton) and Piña (Penélope Cruz). The fact that the initially innocent dinner date leads to the duo getting propositioned for group sex is, in some ways, the least explosive part of their night.

Amid it all, Angela and Joe play out a couple’s therapy session that sees them openly vent their frustrations, blame one another for their sustained unhappiness and admit that they may only still be together for the sake of their daughter, Maggie.

Olivia Wilde and Seth Rogen in ‘The Invite’.

Courtesy of A24

When Piña observes that Maggie would be better off with two happy, separated parents than two miserable married ones, they couldn’t disagree.

Yet in the final moments of the film, with their apartment empty and their resentments spent, Joe and Angela share a sweet moment in which the former musician finally plays the piano that he refused to touch for years. The object that once represented his professional failure gains new significance, as Angela joins him on the piano bench and they play a familiar melody together.

But is it a moment of reconciliation or just an epilogue to their now-finished marriage?

“It’s totally up to the audience to decide,” Wilde recently told *USA TODAY**,* admitting that not even the film’s stars could agree on an answer. “Even when we were performing that scene together, Seth and I had very different ideas about what was going to happen to Joe and Angela.”

She explained, “He was adamant we would be together forever, which was very sweet and very Seth. I was more cynical, although I felt it was romantic to assume that two people can break up but still love each other.”

But since wrapping the film and sharing it with the world, Wilde admitted that her feelings on the matter have changed.

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“I have been buttered up and I’m a softie,” Wilde shared. “Now when I watch the movie, I’m like, ‘Wait a minute. I think they stay together.’”

She notes that the viewer’s read on the ending will change “based on whatever you’ve got going on” in life.

Olivia Wilde, Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton in ‘The Invite’.

Courtesy of Sundance Institute

To her point, as Joe and Angela sit alone on the bench in their final scene, the love between them is clear. They lean their heads together and play out the melody. But whether they are accepting that love and moving on or trying to make the marriage work is for viewers to debate after the credits roll. For Wilde, that ambiguity was always the goal.

“*The Graduate* has the all-time best ambiguous ending, or at least leaves you with a question you didn’t expect to ask,” Wilde told the outlet. “We all dreamt of an ending that felt a little inconclusive and allowed for these conversations.”

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She added that it has paid off, noting, “I’ve polled the audience after every screening I’ve been to, which is dozens. And when I’ve polled them, it’s been 50-50 so far.”

*The Invite *is in theaters now.

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Source: “EW Comedy”