The Assassin’s highly-charged ending was certainly full of twists, turns and shock truths – meaning fans of the Keeley Hawes thriller might need it explained.

The six-part Prime Video series kept fans captivated throughout as they tried to work out the link between Keeley’s character Julie – a very successful but retired assassin – her son Edward and the billionaire Cross family.

As the story unfolded, it became clear mining tycoon Aaron Cross, portrayed by Neighbours legend Alan Dale, had a very big secret to hide. But he wasn’t the only one who was concealing a huge lie.

Julie also had been keeping a massive whopper from Edward, played by Freddie Highmore, for a staggering 29 years… In short, nearly all of his life.

Here’s everything you need to know about the ending of The Assassin on Prime Video and the plot-line explained.

***Warning: stop reading TVGuide’s The Assassin ending explained unless you’ve watched all six episodes***

The Assassin ending explained: What happened in the series finale?

The final episode of The Assassin began with Edward waking up in a strange bed, woozy and disorientated. As his eyes began to focus, he realised he was in a child’s bedroom. And there, looking over him, was his ‘aunt’ Marie, played by American actress Gina Gershon.

Edward had only just met Marie after she’d whisked him away from danger in her giant black Range Rover. She had promised to take him to a safe house, where Julie would be waiting. Together, they’d finally reveal the truth about his father.

But when Edward smelled a rat and jumped out of the car, Marie ran after him. She then knocked him out with a swift stab to the neck with a syringe of ketamine. It was after this unexpected encounter that he found himself waking up in Marie’s house in Spain.

Determined to find her son, Julie soon tracked them down with the help of fingerless IT specialist Jasper, that mystery laptop and her new pal Luka from the village wedding massacre.

The final scenes were not short of drama, as the identity of Edward’s father finally emerged and, in a big shock, his mother’s, too.

Read on for a more detailed breakdown of what happened in the series finale of The Assassin.

Who is Edward’s dad?

In the first episode of The Assassin, Edward had turned up on the remote Greek island where Julie was living as a recluse and demanded truth. He’d just received a lump sum of cash from a company called Anvil Assets, which he presumed was linked to his biological father, and he needed an explanation.

Julie insisted Edward was better off not knowing his dad’s identity and refused to tell him. But the secret continued to grow bigger and bigger as the story unfolded.

By episode five, Edward finally began to get answers as he unwittingly sped towards Spain with Marie, who had picked him up in her Range Rover as he fled a female assassin (NOT his mother).

Marie told him she was his aunt and that his mum had sent her. She said his dad was called Roy. But a short while later, she called him Ray…

Edward did eventually get the truth once inside Marie’s house. He learned his dad was actually a French man and very wealthy arms dealer called Jean-Luc. Jean-Luc was also Marie’s husband.

What did the word ‘Chantaines’ mean?

Throughout The Assassin, mystery surrounded the French word ‘Chantaines’.

Jasper, head of IT for Cross Global Mining, used the word to help him escape a hellish Libyan prison after being caught with cocaine during a night out on holiday. He made a call to tycoon Aaron Cross, head of the company, and threatened to expose all about ‘Chantaines’ if he didn’t help get him released.

It worked, but only after Jasper lost several fingers at the hands of his fellow inmates…

Aaron’s daughter Kayla had also asked her brother Ezra about what ‘Chantaines’ meant on board their yacht in episode one. All Ezra knew was, if it got out, it would ruin the family business.

Viewers almost learned the meaning of ‘Chantaines’ in the fifth episode. Kayla had found a suicide note, confirming her mother had killed herself, and it was all because of ‘Chantaines’. Her father Aaron explained Chantaines was the name of a French poodle he and her mother once owned. But no more was said.

In the series finale, however, it was finally revealed. It transpired that ‘Chantaines’ was the code name given to an assassin plot by Aaron and his late wife Leila; Kayla and Ezra’s mother.

When setting up Cross Global Mining 29 years previously, Aaron and Leila had run into financial difficulty. They borrowed money from an arms dealer who then “got greedy” when the company took off.

To get him off their backs, Aaron and Leila hired an assassin to kill the arms dealer – who was called Jean-Luc. And the assassin? It was Julie who carried out the kill.

Leila couldn’t live with the guilt and revealed ‘Chantaines’ to be the reason she ended her life in her suicide note.

Why did Marie want Julie and Kayla dead?

It emerged that moments after shooting Jean-Luc dead in his Spanish mansion 29 years previously, Julie was disturbed by a noise. It was Marie, his wife, so she shot her too.

But during the series finale, viewers learned that Julie had also heard a baby cry. It was the couple’s son Florent, so she scooped him up and fled with him. Julie said she just couldn’t live with herself if she’d left him alone with his murdered parents.

The trouble was, Julie hadn’t checked Marie’s pulse and she wasn’t actually dead. After being in a coma for several years, she learned to walk and talk again. She also began to paint, putting all her feelings about what happened down on canvas…

It quickly became clear that baby Florent was actually Edward – and all this is why Marie wanted Julie dead. Julie had killed Marie’s husband all those years ago, had left her for dead and stolen their baby.

And Kayla? 29 years on, Edward was now engaged to marry her. Unfortunately for Kayla, she was also the daughter of Aaron and Leila Cross, who had paid to have Edward’s biological father Jean-Luc killed almost three decades earlier.

The Assassin: Ending explained – Who is Edward’s real mum?

In very dramatic final scenes, after Julie had single-handedly wiped out most of Marie’s protection guards with her gun, Edward is delivered another bombshell. Marie isn’t his real mother, either.

Marie tells Edward and Julie she never wanted children, but Jean-Luc did. To keep him happy, they paid for a surrogate and baby Florent – aka Edward – was born.

With a disgusted look on her face, Marie told the pair: “Jean-Luc wanted kids. We paid for a surrogate. I wouldn’t even change your diaper!”

And that positive pregnancy test RIGHT back at the beginning when Julie was a young assassin? Julie admits she was pregnant once, many years ago, but had a miscarriage.

Poor Edward/ Florent… The bad news just keeps coming!

Why didn’t Marie kill Edward? What did she poison him with?

As Julie and Edward tried to make their escape from Marie’s house in Spain, Edward began feeling dizzy. He told Julie it was due to the drugs Marie had knocked him out with to get him to her house.

But in their final confrontation with Marie, Edward collapsed on the floor. With a smirk on her face, Marie told Julie that Edward was “dying”. She had poisoned him with the plant aconitum, also known as Monkshood.

Aconitum can be deadly if it is ingested. It can cause respiratory paralysis and even heart failure. Marie said she’d read about it in an article written by Edward, who worked as a journalist.

Although Marie had an antidote in the house, she said she would only reveal where it was if Edward – or Florent, as she kept calling him – shot Julie and killed her. Marie said she didn’t want Edward dead, as he was her only link to Jean-Luc.

During a very tense moment, Julie handed Edward her gun and closed her eyes, saying she deserved what was coming to her. But as the gun fired, viewers realised Edward had shot Marie dead instead.

He told Julie he killed Marie because she had kept calling him Florent.

Kayla, who had arrived on the scene moments earlier, then summoned one of her father’s private helicopters (as you do) and Edward was whisked to hospital.

How did Aaron Cross die? Who killed him?

Another bombshell at the end of The Assassin was that Aaron Cross had died. Before Kayla had fled to Spain to help rescue Edward, a maid had found Aaron slumped on his desk in his office.

Kayla tried to wake him, while demanding Ezra – who was just stood there – call an ambulance. At the hospital, it was confirmed Aaron was very ill and Ezra would have to act up as head of Cross Global Mining in his absence.

One of the final scenes saw an employee giving his condolences to Ezra, confirming his father had since died. The staff member spoke about how Aaron’s death was caused by a fatal overdose of the prescription opioid oxycodone.

The employee told Ezra he knew he’d taken it before. Although he admitted he had, Ezra insisted he’d never seen his father take oxycodone. Ezra claimed Aaron must have muddled the bottle with his sleeping pills. Hmm…likely…

How did The Assassin end?

The final scene of The Assassin was a fast-forward to three months later. Now fully recovered from almost being poisoned to death by ‘aunt/ mother/ not mother’ Marie, Edward was on a private sailing boat with Kayla.

The boat had a Greek flag, indicating where they were back where it had all started. Julie then emerged from below deck.

Edward, Kayla and Julie were off to meet his real mother, the biological surrogate. Julie thanked Edward for inviting him along.

Julie also received a text from Luka, which confirmed to viewers they were now in a romantic relationship. “He’s so needy,” she giggled to Edward.

Julie was the reason all Luka’s loved ones were killed at the village wedding at the start, but this final scene proved all was forgiven.

Will there be a series 2 of The Assassin?

The Assassin was the latest masterpiece from sibling writing duo Harry and Jack Williams, from Two Brothers Pictures.

Sadly, neither they or Amazon Prime Video have confirmed if there will be a second series of The Assassin.

Most of the story was nicely tied up, with the truth finally being revealed about Edward’s father and his childhood. The only loose end left is the identity of Edward’s biological mother.

Could Julie have also bumped off one of the surrogate’s loved ones during her career as an assassin? Will the surrogate recognise her and also want revenge? Maybe…but unlikely!

Read more: 10 of the best ‘hidden gem’ TV dramas you can stream for free right now to get you through the summer of sport

The Assassin is currently available to watch on Amazon Prime Video.