The Woman in the Wall ending rounded off the BBC drama with plenty of heart-wrenching moments as Lorna finally discovered what happened to Aoife and Agnes.
Incorporating the horrific history of the Magdalene Laundries in Ireland into its main character Lorna’s backstory, The Woman in the Wall is deeply unsettling and evocative. After Lorna discovered the dead body of Aoife Cassidy in her living room, things took a sinister turn, but one which ultimately led to a more public quest for the truth. Detective Colman Akande arrived in the area to solve the murder of a priest, but soon became embroiled in Lorna’s story as she attempted to find out what happened to her daughter Agnes and to get justice for all the mothers who had their babies forcibly taken from them by the Sisters of the Seven Joys.
Here we explain The Woman in the Wall ending, including what happened to Lorna’s daughter Agnes and whether there’s likely to be a season 2…
*Warning: Spoilers ahead*
(Image credit: BBC/Motive Pictures/Chris Barr)
The Woman in the Wall ending explained
Unlikely allies Detective Colman Akande and Lorna Brady teamed up in The Woman in the Wall ending after he discovered a death certificate with his name on it and realised that he was one of the babies separated from his mother by the House of the Sacred Shepherd and trafficked, with a fake death certificate written up. The same thing had happened with Lorna’s missing daughter Agnes and so many others and eventually James Coyle AKA Ignatius McCullen was unmasked as being at the centre of this horrifying conspiracy.
Despite pretending years later to be on the side of the women who’d been at the Kilkinure Mother and Baby home, it turned out he’d been involved in helping to steal their babies and have them adopted in return for “donations”.
He did this alongside the late Father Percy whose murder Colman had initially come to help investigate. James had subsequently reinvented himself and founded Eadrom Group – an organisation that claimed to want to help the women who’d had their babies stolen and were forced to work in the Magdalene Laundry.
The “donations” he and Father Percy had received from families over the years in return for adopting the stolen children were put to appalling use to help cover up the crimes by renovating the sites where they took place, destroying evidence. The titular woman in the wall, Aoife Cassidy, had been one of the Sisters of the Seven Joys and had been unable to deal with what had gone on and wasn’t prepared to keep quiet anymore.
(Image credit: BBC/Motive Pictures/Chris Barr)
She’d gone to Father Percy’s house and after she discovered evidence of what Father Percy and James had done, the priest had tried to justify it as “saving” the children.
“We didn’t save anyone,” a disgusted Aoife replied, as revealed via a flashback. “We disappeared these children.”
Taking the evidence, Aoife had tried to leave but after a struggle Father Percy had fallen down the stairs, leaving viewers thinking for a moment that The Woman in the Wall ending had revealed who’d killed him. Actually, it turned out that he hadn’t died in the scuffle and Colman was later left to speculate about what else went down that night. The detective came to the conclusion that James Coyle had been contacted by the priest about Aoife and he’d feared his former partner in the horrifying scheme might betray him.
(Image credit: BBC/Motive Pictures/Chris Barr)
To prevent this happening, it’s presented that James got his faithful accomplice Lesley to silence Father Percy permanently at a time when he had an alibi. He also recruited Lesley to see Lorna pretending to be Aoife’s daughter and despite his dark deeds she still seemed very much on board with him and his plans even as she was arrested – if the look she gave him was anything to go on.
Whilst fans learnt early on in episode 6 what happened to Father Percy that night, the finale also revealed what had really happened to Aoife Cassidy that night. She’d ended up going back to Lorna’s home, but unbeknownst to Lorna, Aoife was living with catalepsy which meant she could sometimes have the appearance of being dead after experiencing an episode.
Lorna had feared she’d been responsible for killing Aoife after finding her seemingly dead but when she’d buried her in the wall, Aoife had still been alive.
(Image credit: BBC/Motive Pictures/Chris Barr)
She’d later managed to make her way upwards into the loft where she’d sadly passed away. Lorna ended up finding Aoife in the loft towards the closing stages of The Woman in the Wall ending after searching around with a torch and seeing a potential way up. Although Lorna hadn’t realised it at the time, ultimately hiding Aoife in the wall had indirectly led to her death and she accepted her fate and was arrested.
Unfortunately, in a bittersweet twist, The Woman in the Wall ending didn’t show James Coyle or anyone else who’d been part of the conspiracy being arrested. Though it seems likely this will happen at some point as Detective Aiden Massey told the intimidating Sister Eileen, “I’ll be seeing you. Soon.”
What happened to Lorna’s daughter Agnes?
Whilst the BBC drama’s main storyline is completely fictional, The Woman in the Wall true story elements are all part of Lorna’s backstory. During her time at one of Ireland’s Magdalene Laundries she was separated from her daughter Agnes and this traumatic experience has continued to haunt her. Lorna hadn’t known what had happened to Agnes and was later presented with a death certificate for her daughter which stated that she had died.
(Image credit: BBC/Motive Pictures/Chris Barr)
However, at the end of episode 5 of The Woman in the Wall, Detective Colman Akande gave Lorna new hope after he showed her an almost identical death certificate with his name on. In The Woman in the Wall ending Colman and Lorna bonded over this and after the rest of the current day events had been unravelled, the detective gave her what she’d been looking for all along.
He’d tracked down Agnes who’d been adopted in America and had been trying to find her birth mother. Although their emotional mother-daughter reunion took place over a call and on Lorna’s end, from inside prison, they connected in a video call. After spending so long trying to find her, this moment was an incredibly evocative way to end the drama’s final episode.
(Image credit: BBC/Motive Pictures/Chris Barr)
Will there be The Woman in the Wall season 2?
Currently, there’s no confirmation of The Woman in the Wall season 2 and given how The Woman in the Wall ending rounded off the main story threads so expertly it’s perhaps unlikely there will be one. The ending likely resonated with many and saw Lorna finally learn the truth about Agnes, accept responsibility for what she’d ended up doing to Aoife and Colman and the police begin to start to uncover the web of those involved in child trafficking.
(Image credit: BBC/Motive Pictures/Chris Barr)
Admittedly, James Coyle was still at large by the end of episode 6 but Detective Massey’s words indicate that he won’t be stopping until everyone faces punishment. Of course, if the demand was there, this line could also lead into a potential The Woman in the Wall season 2.
A second season could perhaps focus on the police finding the evidence they need to arrest James and the others and maybe upon Lorna and her growing bond via call with Agnes. However, this isn’t completely necessary after the emotional season 1 finale which brought things to a thematic close and left these further steps up to the viewers’ imagination.
All episodes of The Woman in the Wall are available to watch via BBC iPlayer now.