Do the Characters in ‘The Breakfast Club’ Stay Friends?
The Breakfast Club was released in 1985 and is one of the most popular coming-of-age films in movie history. It was directed by John Hughes and stars Emilio Estevez as Andrew Clark, Anthony Michael Hall as Brian Johnson, Judd Nelson as John Bender, Molly Ringwald as Claire Standish, and Ally Sheedy as Allison Reynolds.
In The Breakfast Club, Andrew, Brian, John, Claire, and Allison are all high schoolers from different cliques. The five students spend a Saturday together in detention before parting ways. Do the characters in The Breakfast Club remain friends after the movie ends?
What happens in ‘The Breakfast Club’
The movie takes place on March 24, 1984. On that fateful Saturday, Andrew, Brian, John, Claire, and Allison meet in the school library for detention. They are supervised by the school’s vice principal, Richard Vernon (Paul Gleason).
Vernon tells the students that they cannot talk or move from their seats, and by the end of the day they must write an essay about who they truly are. While checking in on the group, he frequently antagonizes John.
At first, the students find themselves at odds and stick to themselves as they are all from different cliques. Both Claire and Andrew are popular while Andrew is an athlete, Brian is considered a nerd, and Allison and John are outcasts.
Throughout the detention period, the characters get to know one another better and realize they have a lot in common. In addition to having similar problems with their families, Andrew, Brian, John, Claire, and Allison all have similar fears for the future.
When detention ends, Andrew and Allison kiss. Claire and John kiss as well, and Claire gives John one of her diamond earrings. The movie concludes when the students go their separate ways, and viewers are left to speculate how the characters will act at school on Monday.
Do the characters stay friends?
As the five students bond throughout detention, they wonder what will happen next. They come to the conclusion that their newfound friendships will most likely only last until detention ends.
While there were constant rumors about a sequel to The Breakfast Club, it never happened. In an interview with The Hartford Courant in 1999, Hughes gave some idea about what happened to the characters.
“I know everybody would love to watch it, but I’m too fond of those characters,” he said. “… there’s no excuse that could ever put them in the same room ever again. There isn’t anything in their lives after high school relevant to that day.”
Hughes added, “It’s like Ferris Bueller. You don’t want to see him today. You’d hate him. He’d either be a bum or a politician. But it would be great to hear [The Breakfast Club] Sunday night on the phone. That Monday, Michael would have really tried to be friends with them. Molly would be obviously embarrassed.”
‘The Breakfast Club’ almost had an epilogue
According to Susannah Gora’s 2010 book, You Couldn’t Ignore Me If You Tried: The Brat Pack, John Hughes and Their Impact on a Generation, a draft of The Breakfast Club included an epilogue.
In the proposed epilogue, Carl Reed (John Kapelos), the school’s janitor, tells the students where they will be in the year 2000.
“Kapelos later recalled: ‘I told Brian (Anthony Michael Hall) that he’s gonna be a big stockbroker, die of a heart attack at age 35. Claire’s gonna drive a Suburban and be a housewife. John Bender, if and when they let you out of prison…,'” Reuters reports.
Based on this, one can assume that the members of The Breakfast Club never break out of their social cliques and end up following the paths set up for them.
