Warning: SPOILERS below for Warrior Nun Season 1.
Warrior Nun season 1 ended with a shocking cliffhanger that left behind several huge unanswered questions. Created by Simon Barry (Van Helsing), Netflix's new action series is an adaptation of the Warrior Nun Areala comics and blends familiar elements of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The Da Vinci Code into an international action-adventure saga as a young woman gains supernatural powers and finds herself caught in a war between forces that seem to represent Heaven and Hell.
By the end of Warrior Nun season 1, Ava Silva (Alba Baptista), the Halo-bearer, finally decided to stop running and her fellow Sister Warriors in the Order of the Cruciform Sword. Their mission was to break into a secret chamber beneath the Vatican where they believed the bones of the angel Adriel (William Miller) rested. Instead, Ava discovered Adriel alive inside the tomb, and she learned that Adriel is not the divine warrior from Heaven he always claimed to be. Adriel is actually the Big Bad of Warrior Nun and he breaks out of his cell to threaten the world and take his Halo back from Ava.
The Sisters of the OCS, including Sister Mary (Toya Turner), Sister Beatrice (Kristina Tonteri-Young), Sister Camila (Olivia Delcan), and Sister Lilith (Lorena Andrea), who also mysteriously returned from the dead with new abilities, also learned that their mentor Father Vincent (Tristan Ulloa) was a traitor who is a follower of Adriel. Meanwhile, Michael (Lope Haydn Evans), the terminally ill son of billionaire scientist Jillian Salvius (Thekla Reuten), leaped through the Ark, a portal powered by Divinum that may or may not lead to Heaven.
While Warrior Nun season 1 ended with a couple of major revelations about Adriel and Father Vincent, it also opened up a Pandora's box full of questions that are left unresolved. Much of what Ava (and fans) were told throughout Warrior Nun season 1 turned out to be false as the heroines learned dark secrets that shattered what they always believed in. Until Warrior Nun season 2 arrives on Netflix, fans will be pondering the series' many unanswered questions, and here are the biggest ones.
8. What Is Adriel's True Identity?
Adriel is the biggest swerve of Warrior Nun season 1. The entire mythology of the Order of the Cruciform Sword is built around Adriel as an angel who gifted his Halo to Areala (Guiomar Alonso) during the Crusades, turning her into the first Warrior Nun. According to Adriel, Pope Urban II wanted the power of the Halo to himself and they built the stone cage beneath the Vatican to imprison Adriel when they realized he couldn't be killed by Earthly means. But Adriel is still connected to the Halo and has been able to gain knowledge of the outside world, as well as followers like Father Vincent. He can also control the demonic spirits and use them to possess humans to do his bidding.
Adriel himself its that the term "angel" is just an approximation to help humans comprehend the type of "divine being" he is - but what exactly is he? Is Adriel actually from Hell? Or is he some kind of other-dimensional alien? It's suggested that he's actually a thief and that the Halo was originally not his. It also seems that Areala knew that Adriel wasn't an angel when they formed their original pact - although Adriel claims Areala "betrayed" him and that his "gift" of the Halo turned into a "perversion". Warrior Nun season 1's finale makes it clear Adriel is the Big Bad of the series and a major threat to the whole world. Hopefully, Warrior Nun season 2 will fill in the many blanks regarding who and what Adriel really is.
7. What Are The Tarasks And Who Sent Them?
Given their fiery and monstrous appearance, fans initially had no reason to question Father Vincent's explanation that the Tarasks are demons from Hell who are attracted to the power of the Halo but can only enter the physical world for brief periods of time. The Tarask seemingly killing Lilith also sealed them as villains - at least, until the reveal that Vincent is a traitor and a disciple of the villainous Adriel. This forces fans to question and recontextualize what the Tarasks actually are. Are they really evil beings from Hell or does their frightening appearance actually hide some kind of divine mission?
What fans do learn is that the Tarasks are the true source of Divinium; the bones in the stone walls underneath the Vatican seem to be from the original Tarask that Adriel fought when he met Areala and gave her the Halo. We saw, through Ava's flashbacks as Areala, that Adriel melted down the bones of the Tarask to create his Divinium shield and armor. This may be a clue that the Tarasks really are from Heaven and maybe they're a kind of divine footsoldier. Warrior Nun plays with the preconceived Judo-Christian notions of Heaven and Hell and the Tarasks being from Heaven would subvert them even more.
6. What Happened To Lilith And What Is She Now?
Sister Lilith was painted as a villain who was willing to kill Ava to take the Halo which she felt rightfully should have been ed to her, but again, Warrior Nun subverts expectations and made Lilith more intriguing. The scion of a legacy of Halo-bearers, Lilith willingly sided with Cardinal Duretti (Joaquim de Almeida) and she spent half of Warrior Nun season 1 chasing Ava for the Halo before she was killed defending Ava from a Tarask.
Instead of dying, the mortally-wounded Lilith was pulled by a portal "to the other side" and she returned with new abilities related to the Tarasks, like razor-sharp fingernails. Lilith also knew that it was a mistake for Ava to enter the chamber beneath the Vatican because Adriel was there. But what really happened to Lilith, where did she go, and why was she sent back? Lilith seems to have a different destiny besides being a Warrior Nun and she seems tied to the answers regarding the biggest questions of the series.
5. Where Does Jillian Salvius' Portal Lead To?
Billionaire technologist Jillian Salvius built the Ark, a quantum gateway powered by Divinium, with a stated purpose of creating "a bridge to Heaven". But the true purpose of the Ark is to send her terminally ill son Michael to the other side so he can live. Michael has been visited by "an angel", who provoked him to create drawings that helped Jillian build the Ark. This seems to indicate that Adriel has been communicating with Michael for a while and teaching him how to design the portal that could take Adriel back where he came from. This was confirmed when Father Vincent told Adriel that the gateway was ready for him.
So, in a way, Jillian and Michael Salvius have been inadvertently working for Adriel the whole time. But when the Ark suddenly activated, Michael ran through the portal and we have no idea where he went. Did Michael go to Adriel's place of origin? Did he go to where the Tarasks came from? Did he go to Heaven... or Hell? We have no way of knowing until Warrior Nun season 2 provides answers.
4. Did Ava Really See Sister Shannon In Her Dream?
Sister Shannon (Melina Matthews) was the heroic previous Halo-bearer who died in the first episode of Warrior Nun. Sister Mary investigated her death and determined she was murdered by a conspiracy within the Church towards the OCS. After suspecting Cardinal Duretti the whole season, it turned out the true culprit that set up Shannon for her assassination was Father Vincent, who was working for Adriel all along.
But Shannon returned in Warrior Nun episode 8, "Proverbs 14:1" in Ava's dream, which is where Ava got the idea that she has to end the legacy of the Warrior Nuns in order to spare any more women from dying for the Halo and the OCS. But was that really Shannon in Ava's dream, or was it Adriel using Shannon's image and planting the idea in her Ava's head. After all, after this dream, Ava came up with the plan to destroy the bones of Adriel beneath the Vatican - which brought the new Warrior Nun right to Adriel. Further, after Adriel met Ava, he showed he can assume other forms (like Father Vincent), and this seems like a clue that it was never Sister Shannon Ava spoke to in her dream.
3. Will Ava See JC Again?
Amidst the action and mysteries within the Church, the first half of Warrior Nun season 1 also featured an engaging rom-com between Ava and JC (Emilio Sakraya), a thief who turns out to be a genuinely nice person. Ava and JC are attracted to each other immediately and he leaves his group of international jet-set squatters to travel with Ava, who apparently loses her virginity to him. But when they're attacked, first by Sisters Mary and Lilith and then by a Tarask, Ava runs away after Lilith is seemingly killed defending her. JC is left behind with questions and no answers.
Will Ava reunite with JC in Warrior Nun season 2? Given season 1's cliffhanger, it's hard to see how and where JC can slip back into the picture but if he doesn't return, it seems like a waste of a good character the series spent several episodes setting up. Further, his initials are "J.C." and that can't be a coincidence. There may be even more to JC than Ava or fans know so hopefully, he does return to Ava's life in Warrior Nun season 2.
2. Is Shotgun Mary Dead?
Sister Mary AKA Shotgun Mary is one of the best characters in Warrior Nun. Mary was very close to Sister Shannon and she investigated her death, eventually deducing there was a conspiracy within the OCS that pointed to Cardinal Duretti. Mary also defended Ava against Lilith's attempts to take the Halo and it was Mary's patience with Ava that eventually got her to finally return to the OCS after she ran away.
Along with Sister Beatrice, Mary is the heart of the OCS and she was especially stung by Father Vincent's betrayal since he was her special mentor. Warrior Nun season 1 ended with Mary taking on a horde of demonically-possessed people controlled by Adriel. The last image of Warrior Nun season 1 is of Mary being swarmed by her attackers. Is Mary dead? It would be a real shame to lose such a great character but it would also be fitting for Mary to heroically sacrifice herself to protect her sisters. Hopefully, however, Mary survives and returns in Warrior Nun season 2.
1. What Happens To Ava If She's The Last Warrior Nun?
The ultimate fate of Ava is up in the air and it's not clear what will happen to her if the Halo is ever removed from her back. She could revert back to "her previous state" but does that mean she would automatically die, or would she live but once again become a quadriplegic? Even Adriel claims he doesn't know what will become of Ava without the Halo's power.
Ava spent nearly all of Warrior Nun season 1 defying expectations and refusing to lead the Order of the Cruciform Sword. When she did finally her Sisters, it was because she wanted to become the last Warrior Nun and end the OCS' mission (and the fates of women dying for the Halo) for good. Either way, Ava wants to upend the thousand-year existence of the OCS but doing so may cost Ava her newfound freedom and physical mobility, if not her life. Fans also don't know exactly why Ava was chosen by the Halo and what makes her worthy in the first place, but hopefully, Warrior Nun season 2 will deliver all of the answers.
Warrior Nun Season 1 is available to stream on Netflix.