One Battle After Another ending explained: Who are Willa’s real parents?

The latest Paul Thomas Anderson epic, One Battle After Another, pushes beyond action spectacle to tackle themes of family, revolution, and systemic oppression. The film explores the dynamic between Leonardo DiCaprio’s weary freedom fighter, Bob, his daughter, Willa, and Sean Penn’s authoritarian villain, Lockjaw. Though the movie spans car chases, raids, and conspiracies, it never loses sight of its emotional center — the bond between Bob and Willa. The question of her parentage is one of the movie’s biggest mysteries, and it drives much of the final act.

By the end, One Battle After Another reveals the truth about Willa’s origins, reframing both the family drama and the larger political conflict.

Willa’s parentage revealed in One Battle After Another

Throughout the film, Bob raises Willa as his daughter, protecting her while hiding under a false identity. He tells her stories of her mother, Perfidia Beverly Hills, presenting her as a heroic revolutionary who died nobly. But the truth is far more complicated — and heartbreaking.

The climax confirms that Bob is not Willa’s biological father. A DNA test reveals that Lockjaw, the film’s menacing military antagonist, is her actual parent. This revelation stems from an affair coerced years earlier, when Lockjaw offered Perfidia freedom from prison in exchange for a sexual encounter. Willa, then, becomes the embodiment of the clash between authoritarianism and resistance — the child of a freedom fighter and her oppressor.

Despite this truth, the film insists that family is more than blood. When Willa confronts Bob after learning he is not her biological father, his willingness to lower his weapon and embrace her shows the depth of his devotion. Their bond survives the revelation, reinforcing the theme that love and chosen family can endure even amid lies, betrayals, and violence.

At the same time, Lockjaw’s reaction to the DNA test underscores his insecurity. Far from proud, he sees Willa as a threat to his ambitions of joining the white supremacist Christmas Adventurers Club. His attempt to erase evidence of her existence exposes the fragility of his ego and his obsession with power. In contrast, Willa’s resilience and Bob’s unconditional love highlight the film’s hopeful message about unity against corruption.

From sanctuary to showdown: Willa’s journey in One Battle After Another

The film begins with Perfidia and Pat (later known as Bob) as part of the French 75, a militant revolutionary group. After a botched mission and Perfidia’s betrayal, Pat escapes with their infant daughter Willa, raising her under a new identity in the sanctuary city of Baktan Cross. Sixteen years later, Lockjaw — now a colonel seeking entry into the Christmas Adventurers Club — begins hunting Willa to cover up evidence of their connection.

From here, One Battle After Another unfolds as a tense chase across raids, underground networks, and confrontations with militia forces. Willa is captured, tested, and nearly executed, but ultimately freed thanks to her own courage and the sacrifice of allies like Avanti, a Native American bounty hunter who chooses compassion over obedience. Lockjaw, meanwhile, is betrayed by the very supremacist organization he sought to join and is killed once his secret is exposed.

The film closes with Bob and Willa reunited. She reads a heartfelt letter from Perfidia urging her to forge her own path, before leaving to join a protest. The final shot of Willa stepping into her own agency reinforces the film’s core message: the struggle against oppression continues, passed from one generation to the next.

One Battle After Another may be filled with action and political allegory, but at its heart lies the question of family and identity. Willa’s parentage — the child of both revolutionary passion and authoritarian coercion — drives the emotional stakes, but the ending makes clear that Bob will always be her true father. By placing Willa at the center of the revolution’s next chapter, Paul Thomas Anderson leaves audiences with both a warning and a call to hope: the battles may be endless, but love and resilience endure.