12 Best Fan Theories About 2015's Biggest Films

6. Nathan Was Trying To Recreate His Dead Wife - Ex Machina

The Theory: Arguably no movie has had more tantalising fan theories this year than Alex Garland's daring sci-fi (is Caleb a robot? Was Kyoko the true Turing Test?), and Redditor HungryFred0706 suggested the unique notion that Nathan (Oscar Isaac) was hell-bent on creating a plausible AI in order to "resurrect" his dead wife. The evidence? Nathan's house contains mostly abstract art but a totally realistic painting of a woman in a white dress and we also briefly see one of the failed prototypes wearing a very similar dress and bearing a close physical resemblance to the painting. This prototype was possibly the physical shell replica of his wife that Nathan was going to upload the AI to when he had tested it to perfection. And finally, there's the drinking and isolation, both check-box signs of grief and mourning, while his constant exercising could be a cause of his wife being killed in a physical altercation that he was unable to protect her from: he's now guilt-tripping himself into being in top physical condition Why It's Awesome: It's an extremely keen-eyed fan theory that considers a lot of potential holes, and adds layers to an already deep and thoughtful sci-fi masterpiece. How Likely Is It?: 5/10. It's certainly more plausible than almost every other theory on this list, and we shouldn't put it past a writer of Alex Garland's talent and preference for psychology to subtly nod to Nathan's bereavement. The next time he has a movie out, someone on the junket circuit needs to ambush him with the question, Columbo-style.