WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS ahead for Civil War.Jessie has an unsettling reaction to a major character's death in Alex Garland's 2024 dystopian film Civil War. at the beginning of the film, Jessie, played by rising star Cailee Spaeny (Priscilla, Alien: Romulus), is eager to get her feet wet as a budding war photographer when she meets the renowned photojournalist Lee Smith, played by Kirsten Dunst. Lee, who is beyond jaded after dedicating years of her life to capturing profound and horrific images taken in the heat of lethal warfare, reluctantly shows Jessie the ropes as they travel to Washington D.C. to interview Nick Offerman's tyrannical President.

Civil War offers a hypothetical near-future scenario in which 19 states secede from the country. Civil War's box office success and Certified Fresh Rotten Tomatoes critic score of 81% helped it become one of A24's highest-grossing movies, earning a worldwide box office total of $122.6 million.

Civil War is now streaming exclusively on Max.

Jessie Is Already Jaded By The Civil War When Lee Gets Killed

Several traumatic and near-death experiences heavily desensitize Jessie

By the time she, Lee, and Joel reach the capitol, Jessie is fully immersed in her profession, while Sammy's death sends shockwaves through Lee that bring about her true emotions beneath her hardened exterior.

By the shocking end of Civil War, Jessie had endured a great deal of shock and trauma in just a matter of days. Full of naivety at the beginning, several near-death experiences have Jessie trembling in fear, especially after her close encounter with Jessie Plemons' unhinged soldier character who captured Jessie and was burying dozens of bodies of people he likely found to be "unAmerican". By the time she, Lee, and Joel reach the capitol, Jessie is fully immersed in her profession, while Sammy's death sends shockwaves through Lee that bring about her true emotions beneath her hardened exterior.

After capturing the final seconds of Lee's life on camera with rapid-fire clicks of her camera shutter, it dawns on Jessie that her hero and mentor died while teaching her a lesson. Jessie is chillingly emotionless since she's likely in shock from Lee's death, but her mind quickly snaps back to the main mission of capturing the Western Forces' infiltration of the White House. Although Jessie is still a rookie in the field of war photography, her numbness to Lee's death at the hands of the Secret Service already demonstrates the emotional and psychological battle wounds of her profession.

Did Jessie Get Lee Killed In Civil War?

Jessie snaps a historic photo on Lee's behalf

It's reasonable to suggest that had Joel never invited Jessie to them in the first place, since he clearly had an ulterior motive as well, Lee might have been the one snapping the final photo at the end of Civil War.

As Civil War plays out, Jessie keeps putting herself in danger to the point that the soldiers keep yelling at her and pulling her back. She also doesn't understand military signals, so by putting herself at risk, Lee jumps to save her and ends up getting killed, a lesson that Jessie will never forget. It's reasonable to suggest that had Joel never invited Jessie to them in the first place, since he clearly had an ulterior motive as well, Lee might have been the one snapping the final photo at the end of Civil War. Instead, Jessie gets ed the torch, captures a historic moment, and lives to tell the tale.