What Does The Ending Of Annihilation Really Mean?

2. But Which Lena Escaped The Shimmer?

Though the most broad, on-the-surface reading of Annihilation would seem to suggest that the original Lena defeated her mimic version and made it home, there is a certain ambiguity to the ending, with the glow in her eyes possibly implying things aren't quite what they seem.

Remember that, during her "fight" with her mimic, there was a moment where she passed out after falling to the floor, and it's entirely possible - if perhaps unlikely - that Lena and her metallic double were somehow swapped.

Whether you buy that or not, earlier drafts of the Annihilation script clearly wanted the ending to be ambiguous, with Garland writing, "There is no clear indication as to which LENA lived, and which LENA died."

The balance of probability suggests that the "original" Lena did indeed make it out, but given how drastically she has been altered by the Shimmer, namely physically but also emotionally, it's really more apt to say that this is a third, wholly new Lena, distinct from both her former self and the mimic version. A chimera shaped by the Shimmer, if you like.