Netflix’s A Man On The Inside: Ending Explained

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Plus: will there be a season 2?

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Fans are raving about Netflix’s brand new comedy, A Man on the Inside, which stars The Good Place scene stealer Ted Danson as Charles, a retired professor in need of a hobby. So when his daughter Emily (Mary Elizabeth Ellis) challenges him to take one up, a classified ad for an investigative assistant aged 75-85 is just the ticket. Thus begins Charles’ journey searching for a jewellery thief in a retirement residence – a snooping exercise which leads Charles to stumble on a few more complexities than he imagined: grief, family relationships, debilitating diseases and more. It’s both hilarious and heartwarming, and fans have one key question on their lips: will there be A Man on the Inside season 2? Here’s what we know.

Ted Danson as Charles in episode 102 of A Man on the Inside

Will There Be A Man On The Inside Season 2?

No official news from Netflix regarding A Man on the Inside season 2 just yet, but series creator Mike Schur is keen to keep going. Having also worked across The Office, Parks and Rec, Brooklyn Nine-Nine and The Good Place, Schur is well acquainted with a multi-season comedy, and he says A Man on the Inside is currently ‘sort of in a fingers crossed, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, kind of a deal’.

‘But I will say that there is no shortage of ideas from me and from other writers about what we might do in a future season,’ Schur teases. ‘Fingers crossed, we’ll see.’

Indeed, season 1 ends with Charles’ boss Julie (Lilah Richcreek Estrada) phoning Charles to say: ‘I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I have another job for you.’ Hopefully there are plenty more jobs on the horizon.

(L to R) Ted Danson as Charles, Lilah Richcreek Estrada as Julie

A Man On The Inside Ending Explained

A Man on the Inside begins as an investigation: Charles goes undercover at San Francisco’s Pacific View Retirement Home to solve the mystery of a priceless family heirloom stolen from Helen (Danielle Kennedy), at the request of her son Evan (Marc Evan Jackson) and his hired private investigator, Julie. From staff to residents, everyone is a suspect, and it’s up to Charles to sift the innocent bystanders from the Pacific View’s more suspicious inhabitants. After endearing many of these residents and discovering there’s plenty more to life in older age, Charles uncovers the thief who stole Helen’s necklace: Gladys (Susan Ruttan), who had recently been moved to Pacific View’s memory care unit.

Rather than malicious theft, however, Gladys’ dementia made her confused, prompting her to steal items accidentally. This possibility never sprung to Charles’ mind before, due to quashed trauma: his wife recently died, and she had Alzheimer’s. When Charles finally allowed himself to remember the later days with his wife, he recalled that she would behave out of character, become confused and often take things that didn’t belong to her because of that confusion. Ruminating on this, it clicked in Charles mind: nothing had been stolen since Gladys moved to memory care.

(L to R) Nelson Franklin as Rick, Shylo Shaner as Pilar, Stephanie Beatriz as Didi in episode 103 of A Man on the Inside.

The Cast

Ted Danson as Charles Nieuwendyk
Mary Elizabeth Ellis as Emily Nieuwendyk
Lilah Richcreek Estrada as Julie
Stephanie Beatriz as Didi
Marc Evan Jackson as Evan Cubbler
Danielle Kennedy as Helen
Eugene Cordero as Joel Piñero
Sally Struthers as Virginia Foldau
Kerry O’Malley as Megan Chagughlaight-Accourse
Margaret Avery as Florence Joanne Whistbrook
John Getz as Elliott Haverhill
Susan Ruttan as Gladys Montrose
Veronica Cartwright as Beverly Bankl
Miles Fowler as Jaylen LaMont
Clyde Kusatsu as Grant Yokohama
Stephen McKinley Henderson as Calbert Graham
Lori Tan Chinn as Susan Yang
Jama Williamson as Beatrice Vanbeck
Deuce Basco as Jace Nieuwendyk-Piñero
Lincoln Lambert as Nico Nieuwendyk-Piñero
Wyatt Yang as Wyatt Nieuwendyk-Piñero

(L to R) Lilah Richcreek Estrada as Julie, Kerry O’Malley as Megan, Ted Danson as Charles in episode 104 of A Man on the Inside

Is A Man On The Inside Based On A True Story?

Yes, A Man on the Inside is loosely based on a 2020 Chilean documentary entitled The Mole Agent (or El Agente Topo in the original Spanish). Set in El Monte, Chile, The Mole Agent traces the journey of elderly man Sergio into a nursing home, surveying the efficacy of nursing staff at the request of private investigator Rómulo, who fears her mother Sonia is being mistreated. It debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2020 to critical acclaim, and Netflix’s loose adaptation was announced three years later, in March 2023.

‘I knew almost nothing about [The Mole Agent], and I just fell for it so hard,’ Schur tells Netflix. ‘The hero, Sergio, is so wonderfully wrought, so real, just a lovely human being. It’s a beautiful meditation on aging, a subject we are uniquely terrible in this country at confronting, dealing with, or discussing. It showed the reality of aging for people along a very broad spectrum – some folks who were doing great and some folks who were not – and that really grabbed me.’