Only Murders in the Building season 5 finale ending explained: Who Killed Lester?

Only Murders in the Building, Hulu's hit mystery comedy, wrapped Season 5 with Episode 10 "The House Always" on October 28, 2025. Created by Steve Martin and John Hoffman, the series follows three neighbours who start a true crime podcast to solve murders in their Upper West Side apartment building- the Arconia. 

Episode 10 reveals Beau Tillman as Lester's deliberate killer. After Lester fled with the finger to expose the corruption, Beau confronted him in the courtyard, shoving him into a fountain, where he hit his head fatally. Lester's dying text, "It's beautiful," autocorrected from "It's Beau Tillman," a clue the trio missed.

The main cast includes Steve Martin as retired actor Charles-Haden Savage, Martin Short as washed up director Oliver Putnam and Selena Gomez as aspiring writer Mabel Mora. Key Season 5 additions are Teddy Coluca as doorman Lester, Keegan Michael Key as Mayor Beau Tillman, Christoph Waltz as billionaire Bash Steed, Renée Zellweger as Camilla White, Logan Lerman as Jay Pflug, Tea Leoni as Sofia Caccimello and Bobby Cannavale as Nicky Caccimello.

The season centers on Lester's murder, tied to a secret plot to turn the Arconia into NYC's first casino amid a feud between the billionaire trio and mob ties. In Episode 9, the gang uncovers that Lester accidentally killed Nicky during a chaotic confrontation over a severed finger and a ledger of rigged game nights. 

Only Murders in the Building season 5 episode 10 ending explained: Lester's killer revealed

The final episode opens with a flashback to the 1990s, when a young Nicky and Sofia are in love and discussing their hope for a future trip to Positano in Sicily, while at the dry cleaner's. It then shifts decades later, and their relationship is in tatters, following Sofia's affair with Beau, which has devastated Nicky.

On the night of the high-stakes casino game that will determine the future of the Arconia project, Nicky awakens to Sofia's betrayal. High on cocaine and filled with rage, he confronts Beau and brutally slices off the mayor's finger with a cleaver.

Things descend into chaos in the basement gaming room. Lester bursts in, overhearing the screams, armed with the elevator crank and ledger evidence documenting Nicky's rigged games. Nicky lunges at Lester, who swings in self-defense, cracking Nicky's skull. Nicky collapses dead, his cleaver embedding in Lester's chest from the fall. The weight nearly smothers Lester, but Jay Pflug hauls the body off just in time.

The billionaires—Bash, Camilla, and Jay huddle in panic. They agree to a cover-up without looping in assistants. Camilla fetches a tarpaulin to wrap the corpse. Bash stashes it in a cryogenic chamber, causing the freezer burns found later. Jay drags it to the dry cleaner's attic for disposal. Their new goal: retrieve the mayor's finger from Lester to bury evidence and clinch the casino bid.

Parallel to this, the trio—Mabel, Charles, and Oliver—face eviction as the Arconia's fate hangs in the balance. They discover demolition plans to clear the site for the casino, cheaper than retrofitting the historic building. While Oliver's apartment gets packed up, the gang drags the billionaires to the basement for interrogation, stationing Howard as lookout. Howard's frantic text to Mabel autocorrects "Beau" to "beautiful," echoing Lester's final garbled message—a breakthrough they decode on the spot.

Flashback fills in Lester's last moments. After speaking to Randall upstairs, Lester heads to the lobby to blow the whistle. Beau corners him, demanding the finger. Lester taunts him to strike in plain view, but Beau smirks, revealing his sway over the building's cameras through Bash's tech. Undeterred, Lester bolts to the courtyard, whistle in hand, to activate the hidden bird camera for proof. Beau pursues, shoving Lester hard into the fountain's stone edge. The impact cracks his skull mortally.

As Lester gasps his autocorrected text, Randall arrives too late, spotting only the discarded crank and Beau's getaway car on the bird cam feed—enough to seed suspicion but not nail the killer.

Beau's web tightens. His crooked cops swarm, smashing the trio's phones and chaining them in a concealed stairwell, dooming them to perish in the implosion. Unbeknownst to Beau, Charles is on a testosterone placebo, keeping his nerves steady. He MacGyvers an escape: teaching Mabel and Oliver to shimmy up a pole like firefighters to snag a hanger hook for leverage, then picking the chains with improvised tools. Charles' descent—awkward and sock-clad—adds comic relief amid the peril. They burst free as demo crews rev up.

Earlier, the gang planted a recorder in the roulette wheel's hidden slot. Howard, tipped off by Althea (the pop star), diverts Camilla's glitzy press conference crowd—residents and media—to the basement with cries of "the podcasters are in trouble!" The recording blasts Beau's full confession: the shove, the cover-up, his role in greasing deals for the billionaires. Beau dismisses it as a deepfake and flees in panic. Pigeons, summoned by Howard's bird call, create a feathery diversion for the trio's dash to safety.

Jay cracks under pressure, spilling how they stashed Nicky's body for a week to misalign timelines with Lester's death. Cops cuff Bash, Camilla, and Jay as murder accomplices, halting the casino scheme cold. The Arconia stands saved, cheers echoing through its halls.

Wrap-up scenes offer closure with heart. Sofia jets to Positano solo, claiming the vacation Nicky promised for 30 years. She surprises Lester's widow, Lorraine, with a hefty cash gift from the reward pot. Nonna passed peacefully in her sleep.

Howard blossoms romantically with Sofia's son Vinny, who gifts gardenias, evoking Howard's late father—a sweet, quirky match. The core trio gathers for a nostalgic listen to Cinda's original podcast, marking five years since it ignited their sleuthing saga.

Season 6 prospects and renewal status

As of now, Hulu hasn't renewed Only Murders in the Building for Season 6. Season 5's 95% Rotten Tomatoes score bodes well and quick past renewals suggest an announcement soon. Selena Gomez told USA Today-

“I really hope that I can just keep evolving Mabel as I get older, because I want to do this for a long time,” 

Martin Short added-

“We believe we’re doing another season, we think so. But you have to live season by season. And even if it was canceled tomorrow, we would have to say, ‘We had a great, great run. We loved what we were doing. It was a great way to spend five, six years.”

Stream all five seasons of Only Murders in the Building on Hulu or on Disney+.

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