Emma Stone’s latest film, Bugonia, released in 2025, continues her collaboration with director Yorgos Lanthimos, following their recent work on Kinds of Kindness (2024). Both movies, notable for their satirical black comedy style, are linked not only by their shared lead actress and director but also by a possible secret narrative connection, collectively known as the Emma Stone Bugonia Connection.
Bugonia’s Plot and Emma Stone’s Role as an Alien CEO
Bugonia centers on two men, Teddy (Jesse Plemons) and Don (Aidan Delbis), who kidnap Michelle Fuller (Emma Stone), a corporate CEO they suspect of being an alien from Andromeda intent on destroying Earth. During her captivity, Michelle is subjected to harsh treatment, including head shaving and electrocution, as Teddy attempts to coerce her into revealing her otherworldly secrets.
The film portrays Michelle in a sympathetic light, highlighting her resilience as she manipulates her captors’ beliefs to secure her escape. She indirectly causes two deaths and ultimately kills Teddy, culminating in a dramatic climax. The suspicion around her true nature deepens as the story unfolds, with Teddy’s conviction about Michelle’s alien identity alienating many viewers due to his extreme and violent methods.
According to statements from director Yorgos Lanthimos and actors Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons, the ending explicitly confirms Michelle’s alien origin. It reveals that she is indeed an Andromedan who has lived undercover among humans. Traumatized by Teddy’s actions and disillusioned with humanity, Michelle resolves that humans do not deserve survival, choosing to end all human life.
Emma Stone’s Character in Kinds of Kindness Raises Alien Possibilities
Kinds of Kindness, a 2024 anthology, explores human weaknesses and moral ambiguity across three loosely connected stories. The film blends elements of science fiction to critique human behavior, resulting in a bleak outlook on humanity’s nature. Emma Stone plays multiple roles, with her most prominent part in the second chapter, “R.M.F. Is Flying,” which hints at an alien subplot.
In “R.M.F. Is Flying,” Stone portrays Liz, a marine biologist who mysteriously disappears during an expedition and reappears without explanation. Her husband Daniel (Jesse Plemons) notices subtle but disturbing changes in her behavior, soon forcing her to degrade and harm herself. After Liz’s death from self-mutilation, another woman identical to her appears at the door, suggesting that one or both may be clones, possibly alien in origin.
The narrative evidence implies that Liz’s disappearance and replacement may involve extraterrestrial abduction, connecting Stone’s character in Kinds of Kindness to extraterrestrial themes similar to Bugonia’s plot.
Bugonia and Kinds of Kindness Share a Thematic and Visual World
Both Bugonia and Kinds of Kindness employ vibrant, stylized color schemes and are set in contemporary times, intertwining themes of human violence and cynicism. These films examine humanity’s moral flaws through dark humor and satirical storytelling, suggesting that Bugonia might act as an unofficial continuation or “fourth chapter” to Kinds of Kindness.
In Bugonia, Michelle confirms to her kidnappers that she is an Andromedan, explaining that her species, burdened with guilt for causing the dinosaur extinction, seeded Earth with species resembling themselves. This revelation dovetails with the ideas presented in Kinds of Kindness’s chapter involving Liz, implying that the alien intervention may span both movies’ narratives.
Bugonia Offers Emma Stone’s Character a Cathartic Conclusion
Compared to Kinds of Kindness, which notably lacks any emotional relief for Stone’s characters, Bugonia delivers a form of vengeance and resolution. Kinds of Kindness depicts Stone enduring repeated psychological and physical torment without reprieve or justice, casting her as a perpetual victim.
In contrast, Bugonia’s final act allows Michelle to overturn her victimhood. After enduring brutal torture, she punishes Teddy and, symbolically, all of humanity for perpetuating violence. This act of retribution offers a more satisfying and powerful conclusion to the arc initiated in Kinds of Kindness, making Bugonia feel like a fitting emotional sequel.
Bugonia explores the destructive effects of paranoia and suspicion through its portrayal of two conspiracy-driven men and their victim. Meanwhile, Kinds of Kindness dissects human nature through interwoven stories about destiny, loss, and spiritual searching, thus deepening the emotional and thematic fabric that connects these films.
