Summary

Season 3 of Sweet Tooth premieres at the top of TV charts, concluding significant story arcs.
The fate of Big Man in Sweet Tooth’s final season remains ambiguous, leaving fans puzzled.
Producers disagree on whether Big Man dies or survives at the end of Sweet Tooth, adding depth to the finale.

Following a 14-month hiatus, Season 3 of the popular Netflix original fantasy series Sweet Tooth premiered on June 6, 2024, instantly chewing its way to the top of the TV charts. The third and final season continues the evolution of Gus (Christian Convery), an adolescent half-human, half-deer hybrid desperate to find his long-lost mother. As always, Gus is guided by Tommy Jepperd (Nonso Anozie), aka Big Man, a spiritual traveler and hybrid hunter who vows to protect Gus and lead him to his mother.

With the conclusion of Sweet Tooth comes the completion of significant story arcs, loose plot threads, and unforgettable character fates. In particular, Big Man’s ambiguous fate has left many fans wondering if his character survives or dies at the end of Sweet Tooth’s third season. The mystery is inconclusive enough to warrant closer inspection to determine whether Big Man lives or dies in his gallant protection of Gus in Sweet Tooth’s harrowing final moments.

Sweet Tooth Release Date June 4, 2021 Studio Netflix, DC Entertainment, Nightshade

What Is Sweet Tooth About?

Created by Jim Mickle, Sweet Tooth is a post-apocalyptic dark fantasy TV series adapted from the DC comic book series of the same name by Jeff Lemire. Ten years after “The Great Crumble,” a global pandemic caused by the Virus H5G9, the human population has been severely reduced and a race of human-animal hybrids has proliferated. The story focuses on Gus, a 10-year-old half-human-half-deer hybrid raised in Yellowstone National Park by his father, Pubba (Will Forte).

Following Pubba’s death when Gus is nine years old, he finds a picture of his mother with the word Colorado written on it. Upon meeting the mysterious drifter and hybrid hunter Tommy Jepperd, who the boy calls Big Man, Gus goes on a dangerous journey to find his mother in Colorado. Despite hunting hybrids, Big Man saves Gus’ life from fellow hunters and develops a loving, parental relationship with the boy as they trek across the wild.

While much of the story concentrates on Gus and Big Man’s quest, another storyline involves Dr. Aditya Singh (Adeel Akhtar), who races to find a cure for the virus. Meanwhile, the Animal Army is led by Bear (Stefania LaVie Owen), who vows to protect the hybrids and guide them to a sanctuary called The Preserve, while searching for her missing sister Wendy (Naledi Murray). The storylines converge in the series finale and help to contextualize Big Man’s vague fate.

Who Is Big Man in Sweet Tooth?
Netflix

Before the viral outbreak that devastated Earth’s population, Tommy Jepperd was a professional football player for a team known as The Guardians. Therefore, he has an athletic physical prowess that enables him to endure the harsh elements. Tommy’s wife Louisa (Luciane Buchanan) became pregnant when the virus spread, leading to the birth of a half-human-half-sheep child. Mortified by the genetic defect, Tommy considered abandoning his wife and child. A conversation with Dr. Singh encouraged Tommy to embrace his son despite his genetic makeup. When Tommy returned to be with his wife and newborn child, they were nowhere to be found.

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To find his wife and child, Tommy agrees to hunt hybrids on behalf of an organization called The Last Men. After capturing several hybrids and earning the moniker Hybrid Catcher, Tommy is devastated when he finds the remains of his wife and son. Soon after, he encounters Gus in the wild and assumes a protective parental role as he guides the boy to Colorado to find his mother. Once they meet and forge a friendship, Gus affectionately dubs Tommy Big Man due to his hulking stature, which becomes a term of endearment as the show progresses.

In Season 3, Gus sets out to find his mother in Alaska, who he believes is a woman named Birdie (Amy Seimetz). Although Big Man is skeptical that Birdie is Gus’ biological mother, he leads the boy to Alaska anyway. En route, Gus is hunted by Dr. Singh, powerful warlord Helen Zhang (Rosalind Chao), her daughter Rosie Zhang (Kelly Marie Tran), and Rosie’s four half-wolf hybrid offspring. While Big Man does his best to protect Gus from Zhang and her minions, his open-ended fate bears closer scrutiny.

Does Big Man Die in Sweet Tooth Season 3?
Netflix

In the Sweet Tooth finale, Gus watches in horror as Singh kills Birdie at Zhang’s behest. Gus declares Zhang and her cohorts do not deserve to live. When a battle ensues inside a mountainous cave, Zhang stabs Big Man in the gut. Viewers are left to assume Big Man dies from the stab wound at the end of the Netflix fantasy show when the character’s chair is left vacant in Yellowstone, where Gus recounts his journey. However, Big Man appears with celebratory maple syrup bottles moments later, perhaps suggesting his survival or hinting at a dreamlike hallucination.

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While Big Man’s final appearance suggests he survived his stab wound, the Sweet Tooth creators and producers have differing views on the character’s ambiguous fate. Producer Amanda Burrell believes Big Man died at the end of Sweet Tooth, telling Screen Rant:

“I don’t know what this says about me [chuckles], but I really firmly believe he did not make it down the mountain. For me, it’s important that Gus really goes on that journey, and has to experience death again, and that it’s really full circle, and that’s what the journey is set out from. But I think that Jim was so inspired to have that final moment where you could still maybe believe.”

Co-producer Susan Downey has a different view of Big Man’s fate, adding:

“Yeah, so emotionally, I believe he made it down, because he’s eventually gonna die. It’s gonna happen, so he’s still dealing with that reality, and so I want to believe it. Now, technically speaking, if you look at what he’s wearing, he really hasn’t worn that in a really long time on our show, so it probably lives in Gus’ memory, and it is saying he is still there with him.”

As for Mickle, he believes the ambiguity is what makes the finale compelling, stating:

“I honestly don’t know, I’ve gone back and forth myself so many times. I think that’s kind of one of the best parts of it is that it works either way. I have my opinion of what it is, but I don’t want to put it out there and spoil it for anybody.”

Whether Big Man survives or lives on in spirit is unclear. In a literal sense, the most likely outcome suggests Big Man ultimately succumbs to the stab wounds inflicted by Zhang. In a philosophical sense, Big Man’s memory will always be with Gus, regardless. Despite being one of the best hybrid hunters in the land, Big Man adopted Gus as one of his own children and fostered a father-like bond with the boy throughout the dystopian Netflix series.

Conversely, Gus became like the son that Big Man lost in the delivery room and never saw again. The two provided what each other had been seeking the whole time – a sense of family and belonging – and that will never change for Gus whether Big Man lives or dies.

Sweet Tooth is available to stream on Netflix.