Warning: Spoilers ahead for Boy Swallows Universe. It’s the new hit mini-series on Netflix that debuted at number 2 on the streamer, but with that ending, everyone is left wondering if Lyle is dead in Boy Swallows Universe, because there were a lot of things going on in the show’s finale. The seven episodes premiered on Netflix on January 11, 2024, and received rave reviews.
The show is an epic coming-of-age story set in 1980s Brisbane that blends the magic and innocence of youth with the brutal reality of the adult world. The fearless and irrepressibly curious teenager Eli Bell (Felix Cameron) lives in suburban Brisbane and is intent on making life better for his fun mum Frankie (Phoebe Tonkin), his watchful older brother Gus (Lee Tiger Halley), and, for a while, his stepdad Lyle (Travis Fimmel) too.
But doing what’s best for them isn’t always easy because catastrophic consequences are inevitable when part of the family income comes from dealing heroin. “What attracted me to Lyle the most is his heart,” Fimmel told Netflix. “He’s always trying to do what he thinks is best for his family, even though sometimes it might be an odd direction that he takes. Of course, it’s not normal to be a drug dealer, but you try to give the character a reason to sell drugs, which is to make money in order to provide for their family.”
Eli gets an inkling of the dangers ahead when he meets Lyle’s boss Tytus Broz (Anthony Lapaglia), witnesses the nature of Lyle’s out-of-hours job, and gets the low-down on standover man Ivan Kroll (Christopher Games Baker). Convicted murderer and family friend Slim Halliday (Byran Brown) has taught Eli that nobody is all good or all bad but when Eli wakes up in hospital, he learns his mum is in prison and Lyle is no longer around. Here’s what happened to Fimmel’s character and if Lyle is dead in Boy Swallows Universe.
Is Lyle dead in Boy Swallows Universe?
Is Lyle dead in Boy Swallows Universe? Yes, while viewers are hopeful that Lyle will turn up alive, his butchered remains are discovered by Eli and Caitlyn while they investigate Tytus. During a search of his property, they find Lyle’s decapitated head. Caitlyn calls the police but Ivan tries to shoot them and a thrilling scuffling ensues.
The final episode closes with Eli, Gus, Frankie, and Robert enjoying a family dinner at home, and Eli writing the manuscript for his book, Boy Swallows Universe. The series and book are loosely based on author Trent Dalton’s childhood, though many events are fictionalized.
Travis Fimmel as Lyle Orlik in Boy Swallows Universe S1. Cr. Courtesy of Netflix © 2023
Slim, played by Brown, is based on Arthur “Slim” Halliday, a convicted murderer who was known as the Houdini of Boggo Road for his notorious escapes from Brisbane’s Boggo Road Gaol. “I think the fact that he was a crim, but we don’t meet him doing anything criminal. We hear about what a crim he was, and how he’d been in jail for 30 years and how he’d escaped, but we see him as someone that really wants to help the boys not go the way that he did,” Brown told Concrete Playground of what appealed to him about the character. “So I think it’s the fact that he’s not as you would expect him to be. When someone says ‘I’ve got a part for you to play, it’s a crim, love you to do it’ — [but] basically I’m babysitter in this.”
Viewers will perhaps best know Fimmel as Ragnar Lothbrok in the History Channel television series Vikings, and as Anduin Lothar in the live-action adaptation of Warcraft. Boy Swallows Universe was a rare treat for Fimmel, who was raised in rural Australia, to have a local production to sink his teeth into. “None of us want to go overseas, we’re just forced to, and I love the Aussie accent and doing work in your own accent,” he said in the show’s production notes.
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