Do Katherine and Owen End Up Together in Lonely Planet? A Closer Look at the Final Scene of Laura Dern and Liam Hemsworth’s Netflix Movie

The plot of Netflix’s Lonely Planet feels straight out of a best-selling beach read.

Written and directed by Susannah Grant, the film follows fiction writer Katherine Loewe (Laura Dern) as she travels to Morocco for a writers’ retreat. While there, she meets a younger man named Owen Brophy (Liam Hemsworth), a finance guy who finds himself completely out of place when he attends the all-expenses-paid getaway with his girlfriend, Lily Kemp (Diana Silvers), an up-and-coming novelist.

Katherine and Owen, two people trying to find their way in different stages of life, are ultimately drawn to each other, and an intoxicating love affair ensues.

“With Lonely Planet, I wanted to make a film about the transformational power of travel — how sometimes journeying thousands of miles away from everything you know about your life can make you see it, and yourself, in a revealing new light,” Grant told Netflix in a statement.

As for how the film concludes, it’s up for debate. Do Katherine and Owen end up together in Lonely Planet? Here’s everything to know about the final scene of Netflix’s romantic flick.

What is Lonely Planet about? 

Lonely Planet tells the story of Katherine Loewe — an über-successful fiction writer who accepts an invitation to a writers’ retreat in Morocco. With a book deadline looming and mourning a 14-year relationship, Katherine has no interest in participating in group activities. The retreat is simply a place to finish her latest book and sort out her life alone.

That’s until she meets Owen Brophy, a young man who works in private equity and tagged along on the writers’ retreat with his longtime girlfriend, Lily Kemp. It quickly becomes apparent that Owen and Kemp’s relationship has been strained for some time — a direct result of the novelist’s newfound fame.

Katherine, who has little desire to mingle with her fellow writers, and an out-of-place Owen begin to spend time together while the others are off on various excursions. Kemp notices Owen growing distant, and the two eventually break up.

Together, Katherine and Owen depart the retreat and make their way to the Moroccan coast. The pair share a romantic evening, which provides a breakthrough for both parties: Katherine no longer has writer’s block, and Owen decides to quit his cutthroat job.

The happily ever after ending seems within reach, but it isn’t quite so.

Do Katherine and Owen end up together in Lonely Planet? 

Following their night together, Katherine and Owen enjoy a day by the ocean. They’re lazily dreaming about their futures when a man steals Katherine’s purse with all the notes for her next book.

Devastated that she has lost two years’ worth of work, she returns to the United States without Owen by her side.

A year goes by, and Katherine finds herself in New York City, where she’s been asked to speak about her project. Serendipitously, she and Owen run into each other at a bar, but he leaves before Katherine has the chance to apologize.

She chases after him and takes full responsibility for how things turned out. “Just know you were never a distraction, you were the whole point,” Katherine says as Owen leans in to kiss her.

The movie concludes with the couple sharing a passionate moment on the streets of N.Y.C. — a scene that seems to indicate to viewers that Katherine and Owen end up together.

What have Laura Dern and Liam Hemsworth said about working together on Lonely Planet?

Dern was “thrilled” to work with Hemsworth — and her kids, Ellery and Jaya, shared in the excitement.

“We love Gale in The Hunger Games so much,” the mom of two told PEOPLE in October 2024. “I loved [Hemsworth] as an actor and I’d seen him in a number of films at that point, but they obviously worshiped Hunger Games and loved him too.”

She went on to describe Hemsworth as the “safest person” to act out intimate scenes with.

“By the time we were doing those scenes, there was nothing we couldn’t talk about together and work out creatively, professionally, all of that,” Dern explained. “But we also had a lot of support. We had much, much discussion.”

Hemsworth echoed those same sentiments.

“There was this instant trust there, and connection,” he said to PEOPLE. “When you meet someone you are a fan of and respect so much … you don’t want to come across as an idiot or seem silly. But when we met, all of a sudden it was like, ‘Oh, I’m speaking to someone that understands me and hears me.’ ”

Where was Lonely Planet filmed?

Lonely Planet was primarily filmed in Morocco. The cast and crew shot scenes in Marrakesh, Chefchaouen — also known as the Blue City — the Atlas Mountains and a few other remote locations.

“We were just on this ride, this journey, being immersed and whatnot in the culture. It was such an interesting place to shoot, and what a great place to do it with someone like Laura,” Hemsworth told Screen Rant. “The ol’ Laura, who’s a bloody champ. Just a true legend.”