The Ending Of The Vault Explained

Contains spoilers for "The Vault"

Nothing beats a good heist flick. From assembling the team to the inevitable double-cross, the general beats tend to be there, but it's still exciting to see how a complex plan comes together so that the team can walk away from the score as millionaires. That's the basic rundown of the newest film you can check out on Netflix — "The Vault."

As evidenced by the title, the film follows a group of thieves who try to break into a vault overseen by the Bank of Spain. The Spanish government seized a treasure beyond value from Walter Moreland (Liam Cunningham). Walter wants those riches back, so he assembles a crack team of professionals to help him get inside the most heavily protected bank vault in the world. 

It goes without saying they make it into the vault by the end of the film, but as anyone who's seen at least a few heist movies can attest, things aren't as straightforward as they seem. A lot of back-and-forths happen in the finale, so here's your in-depth explainer for the ending of "The Vault."

The climax of "The Vault" has everything you would expect in a heist film. There's a booby trap, double-cross, and even another double-cross for the mythical quadruple-cross. It can be a little hard to follow, but here's what went down.

James (Sam Riley) turns out to be a double agent who threatens to bring the actual criminals to justice. He makes away with what he believes are the valuable coins, only for his superior, Margaret (Famke Janssen), to realize he's been duped. The coins detail the location of an even grander treasure, and she knows they're fake. That's when we cut to the reveal that Walter believed James was a rat the entire time and had Lorraine (Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey) use her pickpocket skills to swap the fake coins with the real ones. The three genuine coins are now in the possession of Walter and his gang. 

Walter uses the coins to show that the treasure hidden by Sir Francis Drake is, in reality, somewhere within the Bank of London. There you have it; the entire film was a gambit to locate a map to the best prize the world has ever seen. With the promise of more valuables out there for these crafty criminals to steal, that should give us a pretty big clue that "The Vault 2" is in the works, right?

As of right now, there's no confirmation that "The Vault 2" is in the works. It likely comes down to how well the first one performs, but it's clear the creative team behind the first movie has an idea in mind for where another heist could go down. 

"The Vault" ends with a peek of Walter and his comrades going to the Bank of London for their next heist. One of the key elements from the film involves the job taking place during the 2010 World Cup in Spain. It looks like they'd stick with that trend as the team has decided to break into the next vault during the 2012 Olympics, which took place in London. It seems like they're banking on the overly stretched police force and large crowds to aid them as they attempt an even bigger theft. 

There's a good chance "The Vault" could spawn its own "Ocean's 11"-type franchise where the team grows as they pursue other high-profile jobs amid culturally significant sporting events. It would give the prospective series a nice hook while opening up a host of unique possibilities. If "The Vault" decides to go for a trilogy, perhaps a future heist could occur in tandem with Super Bowl LI in 2017, where Tom Brady and the rest of the Patriots came back from behind against the Atlanta Falcons. The ensuing pandemonium with the Patriots' victory would undoubtedly make for useful cover within the heist of the century.