Breaking Down That Twist – Hollywood Life

If you haven’t watched the new Tyler Perry movie Straw, you’re about to see spoilers because it’s all the internet is talking about! The Netflix movie, which premiered on June 6, 2025, was written, directed and produced by the filmmaker and stars Taraji P. Henson as single mother Janiyah Wiltkinson. The ending of the film throws a major curve ball at viewers to the point where even Taraji admitted she wasn’t expecting it to end this way.

“When I was reading it, I was like, Oh! S**t!’” Taraji told Decider in an interview published after Straw’s premiere.

Below, Hollywood Life is breaking down the entire ending of Straw. (Warning: spoilers are ahead for the movie Straw). 

What Is Tyler Perry’s Movie Straw About?

According to its tagline on IMDb, Straw follows a “single mother [who] navigates a series of unfortunate events, leading her down an unforeseen path where she becomes embroiled in a situation she never envisioned, finding herself at the center of suspicion in an indifferent world.”

Straw Movie Ending Explained

At the end of the film, Janiyah receives a cal from her mother, who tells her that the FBI is at her home. She then says the shocking bombshell: Aria, Janiyah’s daughter, is dead and has been dead for the entire day. Aria had a seizure the previous night and was hospitalized, but she died at the hospital.

A series of flashbacks from the day floods, and viewers learn that Janiyah was actually living her day as if Aria was still alive. This is the reason why the principal was surprised to see her at school, and also why Aria’s backpack was still at the house. The phone call that Janiyah got from the school while at work was really a phone call about her overdue bills, but Janiyah was too far gone at that point to accept reality. She was living in her own world while her mind suppressed the trauma of her daughter’s death.

Nicole also admits that the police had informed Janiyah that Aria had died, and was, therefore, aware that Janiyah was experiencing a psychotic breakdown.

Taraji confessed that she was “blown away” while reading the script and was surprised at the ending just like viewers. While speaking with Decider in an interview published on June 6, 2025, the actress pointed out that everything “made sense in [her character’s] actions.”

“Because what it showed me was that she snapped a long time ago. She snapped the day before,” Taraji explained. “She was just on automatic. She wasn’t even in her body, to be quite honest. I just played the honesty of her living the life, as if nothing happened.”

Straw Movie Cast

In addition to Taraji, the rest of the Straw cast features Sherri Shepherd as Nicole, Teyana Taylor as Detective Kay Raymond, Sinbad as Benny, Rockmond Dunbar as Chief Wilson, Ashley Versher as Tessa George, Mike Merrill as Detective Grimes and Glynn Turman as Richard.