BBC’s Lord of the Flies (now streaming on Netflix) shows how things fall apart when the boys are left alone, one of the boys being Simon.
Simon is the one boy who comes to actually understand what is really happening on the island. Unfortunately, that is the exact reason as to why his fate is not by his side.
In the 2026 adaptation, Simon is able to find out that the “beast” is not a monster at all, in-fact, it is something human. Before he could even tell anyone, he is killed by the very boys he wants to help.
Simon sees the truth in BBC’s Lord of the Flies but no one wants to listen to him
Simon has been a different kind of character in Lord of the Flies right from the very start of the show. While Ralph pays attention to order and Jack wants to run after power, Simon helps the younger kids, prefers to stay out of fights, and actually thinks about what is happening all around him.
Simon is also the one character who understands the “beast” before anyone else can even wrap their heads around it. The other boys imagine something’s hunting them, but Simon? He realizes the danger is from within the group alone.
All of the fear, the anger, and the need to dominate are what’s turning things ugly.
Through his thoughts, it becomes clear he carries a lot of pain from before the island too. His past, especially his abusive home life, makes him a lot more aware about how cruelty works. Sadly, he comes to recognizes the very same pattern in Jack too.
The difference and tension between Simon and Jack is another angle to ponder upon while analyzing Simon’s character/his fate on Lord of the Flies.
Simon sees through Jack’s act, and Jack cannot handle that.
By the time Simon goes looking for the truth about the beast, you already know he is the only one thinking clearly, and this is the kind of clarity that isolates him.
And on this island, being different from the rest is extremely dangerous.
Simon returns to expose the “beast” but is killed mid-sentence in the frenzy
Simon dying (or rather, the boys killing Simon) in BBC’s Lord of the Flies was not planned, but it does happen. That is what makes his death so saddening.
After discovering that the “beast” is actually a dead parachuter tangled all up in the trees, Simon rushes to tell the others about what he’s found out. He runs straight to where the boys are already shouting and feeding off each other’s panic.
When Simon reaches out to them in the dark, they mistake him to be the beast. No one even stops to check, and no one even listens. The group brutally end up attacking him together, using spears, and at this point, they’re purely driven by loads and loads of hysteria.
The 2026 adaptation of Lord of the Flies makes this scene feel surreal because it’s more so more about how soon a group can lose its sense of right and wrong. Even boys who were earlier trying to stay off trouble, get pulled into this brutal murder.
After it happens, Ralph, especially, is left to process with what they have done. A murder.
Simon’s death comes from fear and the group completely losing control, and after Simon dies, there is no coming back to normal. It proves that innocence is already gone, and nothing on the island will be the same again ever again.
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Edited by Deanne Dsilva