Treasure Island ending: who really killed Bess Hawkins, and was it ever Long John Silver?
Every clue on the Hispaniola points to one man, which is exactly why you shouldn't trust them yet.
Treasure Island is MGM+'s six-part take on Robert Louis Stevenson's 1883 novel, created by Robert Murphy. It premiered October 11, 2026, on MGM+, and October 12 on Paramount+ in the UK and Ireland. David Oyelowo plays Long John Silver, Tom Sweet plays Jim Hawkins, and Hayley Atwell plays Jim's mother, Bess. In the book, Jim's mother stays home at the Admiral Benbow inn and never sets foot on the ship.
"She's hardly in the book at all," Atwell said. The series puts her on board, and halfway through, it kills her.
How Bess dies
The trouble starts in Episode 1, when Bess burns the treasure map. The only copy left is in Jim's head, but Silver and Aaron Graham (Jack Huston) both believe Bess still has it, and Silver spreads the word around the ship.
In Episode 3, "The Wide Eternal Sea," Bess has a loud, public fight with Silver in front of Captain Smollett (Tristan Sturrock). That night, she waits in her cabin for Graham. There's a knock, she opens the door, and her face says it isn't Graham. The attacker stays in the shadows.
Jim finds his mother dead and the cabin torn apart. At her sea burial, he recites her final prayer from memory, and anyone listening closely understands that no map was stolen, because Jim is the map.
The case against Silver
Smollett arrests Silver, and the reasons are easy to list:
- Motive — he believed Bess had the map.
- The fight — Smollett watched it happen hours before she died.
- The temper — Smollett cites it when he makes the arrest.
- The record — Silver has already killed a dying sailor.
Silver is sentenced to death, and Jim, who'd been charmed by him, turns against him completely.
The case against it being Silver
The show never shows the killer's face, and the rest of the evidence fits more than one man.
The cabin was searched for a paper map, which means the killer believed Bess had one. Silver did, but he also made sure the whole crew believed it.
Then there's Graham. Silver had produced an intercepted letter exposing him as an undercover Crown agent, sent to seize the treasure for the king. Bess confronted Graham, he confessed, and he offered her a share of the fortune. She took it. A woman who knows your secret is a risk, and she was the one waiting for Graham to knock.
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Was it ever Long John Silver?
In Stevenson's novel, Silver never lays a hand on Mrs. Hawkins. He does kill, though: on the island, he brings down a loyal sailor named Tom with his crutch and finishes him with a knife. The show's Silver has the same reputation, which makes him the easiest man to blame.
Episode 4, "San Domingue," turns the board over. Jim saves Silver from execution because he still needs him to reach the treasure. By the end of the episode, Silver commands the ship, and Graham is the prisoner below deck.
When the truth comes out
Episode 5, "Skeleton Island," airs November 8 on MGM+. The finale, "A Princesa De Aveiro," airs November 15 on MGM+ and November 16 on Paramount+ in the UK.
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