In a world where bees are vanishing and trust in institutions is crumbling, Jesse Plemons plays Teddy Gatz — a man whose grief, rage, and internet-fueled paranoia converge into a terrifying mission: to stop an alien CEO from destroying Earth. The film, Bugonia, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos and released in 2025, isn’t just another conspiracy thriller. It’s a dark, surreal mirror held up to the climate crisis, corporate neglect, and the psychological unraveling of ordinary people pushed to the edge. And it all starts with dead bees.
The Hive Is Dying — And So Is His Mind
Teddy, a low-level warehouse worker at Auxolith, spent years watching his beehives collapse. In 2024, he witnessed what experts called the largest honeybee die-off on record. Colony collapse disorder (CCD) — where worker bees abandon their queen, leaving the hive to die — wasn’t just a statistic to him. It was a signal. And in the echo chambers of Reddit and YouTube, he found his answer: Michelle Fuller, CEO of Auxolith, wasn’t human. She was an Andromedan impostor, sent to sterilize Earth’s ecosystems before wiping out humanity. The timing was too perfect. The bee deaths. The pharmaceutical experiments. His mother’s fate.Sandy Gatz, played by Alicia Silverstone, was once a vibrant woman. Then Auxolith enrolled her in an experimental opioid withdrawal drug. She never woke up. That loss didn’t just break Teddy — it rewired him. He stopped trusting science. Stopped trusting corporations. Stopped trusting reality itself. What began as grief became a crusade. And he wasn’t alone.
The Kidnapping: A Twisted Ritual of Salvation
With his autistic cousin Aiden Delbis as his loyal co-conspirator, Teddy kidnapped Emma Stone’s Michelle Fuller. Not to kill her. To interrogate her. To force her to confess.They injected themselves with chemicals to "avoid sexual complications." They shaved her head, convinced it would block her telepathic link to the "mothership." They kept her chained in a basement for five days — counting down to the next lunar eclipse, the moment, according to Teddy, when the Andromedans would trigger the final collapse.
"A third of our food is pollinated this way," Teddy whispered to her during one tense dinner, gesturing to a plate of strawberries. "You’re not just killing bees. You’re starving us." But here’s the twist: Michelle, in character, didn’t deny it. She admired the bees. Called them "the most industrious creatures on Earth." Then added, chillingly: "That’s why they’re so easy to exploit."
What Is Alien? What Is Human?
The film’s title, Bugonia, refers to an ancient belief that bees could spontaneously emerge from the rotting carcasses of animals — a myth of creation born from decay. Lanthimos uses this as his central metaphor. The aliens aren’t invaders from space. They’re us. The corporations. The systems. The neglect.When Michelle finally speaks — not as an alien, but as a being who arrived during the age of dinosaurs — she reveals the truth: her species caused the extinction of the dinosaurs. To atone, they created humans. But over millennia, they lost control. Their descendants — the ones in boardrooms, labs, and executive suites — stopped caring. They saw Earth as a resource to drain. Bees? Disposable. Humans? Replaceable.
The final scene is haunting. As the lunar eclipse arrives, a cosmic bubble pops. Thousands of human bodies collapse where they stand — in offices, on sidewalks, in cars. The world is silent. Then, the camera pans to a hive. Bees return. Slowly. Steadily. Alive.
"That’s how they planned it," Teddy told Don earlier. "A dead colony. Atomized."
The Real Monsters Aren’t From Andromeda
Lanthimos doesn’t ask us to believe in aliens. He asks us to look in the mirror."The alien conspiracy is there as a metaphor," writes The Cedars, "to demonstrate how people like Teddy and Don can be treated to a point where their entire worldview and moral compass shifts for the worst." Teddy isn’t a villain. He’s a casualty. A man who saw the rot in the system — and, having no power to change it, chose to believe the rot had a face. A name. A spaceship.
And maybe that’s the most terrifying thing. We’ve all been Teddy at some point. We’ve all scrolled through doom-laden feeds. We’ve all blamed a single person for a systemic collapse. We’ve all wondered: If the bees are dying, who’s really pulling the strings?
What Comes After the Hive Dies?
The film doesn’t offer easy answers. But it does offer a warning: when people feel abandoned by institutions, they don’t just become angry. They become believers. In conspiracies. In saviors. In monsters. And sometimes, they become the monsters themselves."In the basement," as The Yale Daily News puts it, "we are forced to question what is alien and what is human. If we all look the same, but act differently, what makes us human?"
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Bugonia based on a true story?
No, Bugonia is fictional, but it’s deeply rooted in real-world anxieties. The 2024 honeybee die-off referenced in the film mirrors actual global declines in bee populations, with the USDA reporting a 40% loss in managed colonies in the U.S. alone between 2019 and 2024. The film’s depiction of colony collapse disorder (CCD) is scientifically accurate, though its alien cause is a metaphor for corporate environmental negligence.
Why does Teddy believe Michelle Fuller is an alien?
Teddy’s belief stems from trauma — his mother’s coma after an Auxolith drug trial — combined with online conspiracy culture. He connects the dots between corporate malfeasance, ecological collapse, and the inexplicable nature of CCD. In his mind, if no human institution can be trusted, then the only explanation left is extraterrestrial sabotage. It’s not logic — it’s despair dressed as certainty.
What does the ending mean with the bees returning?
The bees returning to their hives after human extinction suggests Earth will survive — without us. It’s a bleak but hopeful twist: nature doesn’t need humanity to heal. The real tragedy isn’t the alien invasion — it’s that humans destroyed their own habitat, and nature simply moved on. The film implies we’re the invasive species.
How does Bugonia relate to climate change?
Bugonia uses bees as a symbol for the fragile ecosystems humans rely on. With one-third of global food crops dependent on pollination, the collapse of bee populations isn’t just an environmental issue — it’s a food security crisis. The film argues that corporate greed, disguised as progress, is accelerating this collapse — and we’ve normalized it. The aliens? They’re just a stand-in for the systems we refuse to confront.
Is this film a remake of Save the Green Planet!?
Yes. Bugonia is a loose remake of the 2003 South Korean film Save the Green Planet!, which also features a man kidnapping a CEO he believes is an alien. Lanthimos retains the core premise but shifts the focus from personal trauma to systemic collapse. Where the original was a chaotic farce, Bugonia is a chilling allegory — the absurdity remains, but the stakes are now planetary.
What’s the significance of the chemical castration scene?
The castration isn’t about sexuality — it’s about purity. Teddy and Don believe they must remove all human desires — lust, ambition, attachment — to become "worthy" of confronting an alien force. It’s a grotesque ritual of self-denial, mirroring how real-world conspiracy believers often isolate themselves, reject comfort, and sacrifice their own well-being in pursuit of a truth no one else sees.
Alistair Lockridge
Hi, I'm Alistair Lockridge, a sports enthusiast with a special passion for the game of polo. I've spent years studying and analyzing the sport, eventually transforming my knowledge into insightful articles and engaging commentary. My love for polo has taken me around the world, and I've had the pleasure of witnessing some of the most thrilling matches in the sport's history. My goal is to share my passion and expertise with fellow polo enthusiasts and newcomers alike, and contribute to the ever-growing appreciation for this exciting game.
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