Unfamiliar Ending Explained: Who Starfish Really Is

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Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for Unfamiliar season 1.

The Netflix spy series Unfamiliar ends with a surprising twist, but it doesn’t resolve all of its unanswered questions. Following the success of The Asset in 2025 and Black Doves in 2024, Netflix is set to deliver another year of thrilling spy stories in 2026.

The German spy thriller Unfamiliar unexpectedly became Netflix’s most-watched show in February 2026, surpassing both Bridgerton and The Lincoln Lawyer. While The Lincoln Lawyer season 4 was initially leading on the streaming platform, Unfamiliar’s complex plot quickly propelled it to the top spot.

The movie Unfamiliar centers on Meret and Simon, a German couple who appear ordinary but are hiding a troubling past. Sixteen years ago, they worked as spies for Germany’s intelligence agency, the BND, but a failed mission in Belarus changed everything. They tried to recruit a Russian officer named Josef, but the operation didn’t go as planned.

Ben Is Starfish In Unfamiliar’s Ending

The ending of Unfamiliar reveals how Meret, Simon, Josef, and their daughter, Nina, are all connected. It’s revealed that the German intelligence agency (BND) instructed Meret and Simon to use a romantic relationship with a BND agent named Katya to get Josef to cooperate with them.

Just as readers might realize this story echoes the plot of The Asset, the German spy thriller takes an unexpected turn. Simon and Meret’s plan succeeds perhaps too well, leading to Katya becoming pregnant with Josef’s child. However, when Josef discovers Katya is actually a BND agent who was paid to seduce him, he attempts to kill her in a fit of betrayal.

Okay, so the ending of Unfamiliar was a total shocker! We find out Katya isn’t dead after all, which is amazing. But things are still crazy for Simon and Meret – they’re running from that Russian agent and Nina, and they figure out someone inside the BND is leaking their location to Josef’s hitman, Jonas. At first, everyone suspected Alice, but it turns out she was just a distraction – a false lead! It’s so frustrating and keeps you guessing!

Actually, Ben, the new head of the BND, has been the one feeding Josef information the whole time. He’s secretly the mole known as “Starfish.” To hide his involvement, Ben kills Alice. Then, after finding out where Simon and Meret are hiding, he has them arrested for the murder of Jonas, the hitman Josef had hired.

Josef’s Fate Is Left Ambiguous In Unfamiliar

In the novel Unfamiliar, Josef is revealed to be Jonas’s killer, but what happens to Josef himself remains unclear at the story’s end. Throughout the book, Josef desperately tries to conceal his past from his wife, Vera, who has just become Russia’s ambassador to Germany.

Josef is worried this new, public position will lead people to investigate his past, and he believes his wife is unaware of a past relationship with the BND. However, in a surprising turn of events, Vera and her father reveal they already know everything about Josef’s history – including the fact that he is Nina’s father.

Nina is the daughter Katya had to leave behind, and her presence creates a problem for Vera because of Josef. This leads to Vera’s father ordering Josef to be killed, though the show doesn’t depict his death. It’s currently unknown if Josef will survive if the series, Unfamiliar, is renewed for another season.

Simon and Meret Lose Nina At the End

For a short time, Simon and Meret believe they’ve successfully left their troubled past behind. However, Josef’s efforts to find them are unsuccessful and may have cost him his life, possibly at the hands of Vera’s father’s assassin. Meanwhile, Simon and Meret must finally reveal their history as intelligence agents to Nina before confronting the enemy they thought they’d escaped.

Simon and Meret keep a big secret from Nina: that Katya is actually her mother and Josef is her father, and this decision ultimately causes problems for them. As Simon and Meret decide to split up peacefully after years of lies and manipulation, Katya reveals where they are in exchange for a chance to connect with her daughter, who doesn’t even know who she is.

How This Twist Ending Sets Up Unfamiliar Season 2

In the season finale, Ben’s team arrests Simon and Meret just as Katya and Nina escape the country, leaving their future uncertain. With Katya building a relationship with her daughter, Simon and Meret in custody, Ben gaining more power, and questions about whether Josef is still alive, many storylines from the first season of Unfamiliar remain unresolved.

If Unfamiliar gets a second season, there’s a lot more story to tell. We could find out if Simon and Meret successfully brought Ben to justice, whether Josef survived the assassination attempts, and what happened to Katya and Nina after their reunion in the surprising season 1 finale.

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2026-02-11 20:59