Butterfly Ending Explained: Why Did Juno Want to Kill David? What Happened to Eunju Kim in the End?

Butterfly Ending Explained: The show brings together a heavy-hitting creative team, led by directors Kitao Sakurai, Kim Jin-min, and Jann Turner, and is based on Arash Amel’s gripping graphic novel. The cast includes Daniel Dae Kim as David Jung, with Reina Hardesty as Rebecca, Piper Perabo as Juno, Kim Tae-hee as Eunju Kim, and Park Hae-soo as Choi Yong-shik. Augmented by the performances of Louis Landau, Sean Dulake, Charles Parnell, Kim Ji-hoon, and Sung Dong-il, the cast turns this spy thriller into a highly emotional family drama. Throughout its six episodes, it provides not only thrilling high-octane action sequences but very personal stakes that leave the audience gripping the edge of their seat with every turn.

Prime video Butterfly series Summary

Prime Video’s Butterfly begins with David Jung, a former spy who has lived nearly a decade off the grid since faking his own death. His daughter Rebecca had long believed that he died during the course of an overseas mission. Now a woman in her twenties, she’s been schooled as a ruthless killer by Juno — David’s old business associate and co-owner of their private intelligence firm, Caddis. When David shows up again, his objective is not simply to survive but to take Rebecca out of the life of bloodshed she’s embraced and provide her with something better. The reunion is anything but warm.

Rebecca is deceived by the years of neglect, especially when she learns David has a new wife, Eunju Kim, and a toddler daughter. While David assures her that he faked his own death to protect her from enemies who had discovered him, Rebecca struggles to accept that his motives are paternal. Their emotional chasm is only deepened by their opposing loyalties — David’s to his family’s welfare and ethical standards, Rebecca’s to Juno, who raised her when her father was deployed. The stakes increase as Juno’s past life of Russian spy work begins to catch up with her.

Butterfly Ending Explained

Why Did Juno Want to Kill David?

All along, Juno viewed David as a threat and a betrayal. Their partnership at Caddis had broken down years ago when David refused to cross certain lines of morality — namely, trading information for political leverage and conducting operations that could endanger innocents. Juno was practical to the point of ruthlessness, collaborating with Russian intelligence and achieving power at any cost. When David staged his own death, she may have been relieved to be rid of him, but his return jeopardised all she had struggled for, especially with Senator Dawson breathing down her neck. David being alive also placed Juno in personal danger.

She had trained Rebecca in his absence from home and made her a fine operative and almost family to her. David’s action to “rescue” Rebecca from Caddis wasn’t just one of swiping away a resource — it was an action that defied Juno’s authority and had the potential to destroy the loyalty she had established. For Juno, it was a risky model: if Rebecca could turn her on, so could others. Murdering David was, in Juno’s thought process, the only way of maintaining both her independence and her substitute family.

Who Was Senator Dawson?

Senator George Dawson was not merely a politician, however — he was the linchpin in unravelling Juno’s activities. Tasked with discovering the truth about Russian diplomat Karpov and CIA asset Jae Hun Lee’s murders, Dawson had long believed Juno was responsible but didn’t have the evidence to substantiate it. When David came to him, offering to sell incriminating information in exchange for immunity, Dawson saw an opportunity to take out a top player in the intelligence underworld. Dawson was no passive agent, however.

He understood the leverage of turning insiders against each other, so he was willing to listen to David’s offer to turn Oliver against his own mother. Dawson realised the political implications an elite take-down of Caddis would have, and he was more than willing to cut desperate deals in order to make it happen. This collaboration between David and Dawson was strained at best — both of these men wanted to use one another, but neither trusted the other’s motives entirely.

Did David and Rebecca Stay Together in the End?

The finale of Butterfly Season 1 leaves David and Rebecca in an uneasy, exposed relationship. After David rescues Rebecca from Caddis headquarters, there’s a glimmer of forgiveness as she prevents him from killing Juno. That moment — Rebecca choosing restraint over revenge — suggests that a piece of David’s moral core has penetrated her shell. For the first time, maybe, they could actually form a relationship and not just react to the bloodshed.

But the last scene deflates that hope. During a family dinner, Rebecca takes off by herself with Eunju Kim into the bathroom, and David later finds Eunju stabbed and Rebecca missing. The implication that Rebecca might have murdered Eunju shatters the temporary peace David has attained. Even if she didn’t murder her, the fact that she is missing at the critical moments sows suspicion. Their relationship, already built on years of suspicion and psychic injuries, will be irreparably broken in the future.

Also Read: Saare Jahan Se Accha Review: Gripping Spy Thriller Brimming with Silent Heroism

What Happened to Eunju Kim at the Butterfly Series Ending?

Eunju Kim’s fate is the season’s most unsettling cliffhanger. Eunju is the keystone of David’s new life throughout the show — the embodiment of the suppressed, domesticated life he’s been striving for. Her background is complicated; the daughter of smuggler Dootae Kim, but she is largely uninvolved in David’s spy world. It shifts in the season finale when she is a casualty of a battle she never chose.

The background of the restaurant is left ambiguous. We see Rebecca and Eunju standing up from the table in concert, and when David goes to check on them, Eunju is badly injured, and Rebecca has disappeared. Whether Rebecca stabbed her out of jealousy, still angry, or as a Faustian deal with Juno isn’t explained. Maybe Rebecca was also set up. Regardless, the attack places Eunju’s life at risk and makes Dootae Kim a Season 2 candidate for villainy — a vengeful father seeking payback for his daughter’s injury or death.

 Will There Be a Butterfly Season 2?

Butterfly Season 1 ending effectively demands a sequel. Nearly all the plots are left hanging: Eunju’s condition, Rebecca’s loyalty, Juno’s move, and the looming “favour” David owes Dootae Kim. Juno, though outmanoeuvred in the short term, is far from defeated. Her departure from Seoul is not an abandonment so much as a strategic withdrawal, and her vengeance against David — especially having lost Oliver to witness protection — ensures she will be back.

Prime Video has not officially announced Butterfly Season 2, but the story groundwork is solid. The unanswered questions, along with the final shocking surprise, are designed to keep viewers hooked. Season 2, if renewed, would still be examining the fallouts of Eunju’s stabbing, David, Rebecca, and Juno’s shifting alignments, and whether David can ever shake the shadow of what happened in the past. For now, audiences are left to ponder the ending of Butterfly, wondering where this family saga will go from here.

Also Read: Butterfly Review: Gripping Spy Thriller Wrapped in Family Drama and Unforgettable Performances