What ultimately happens to Zazie Beetz' character in Joker was intentionally left ambiguous in the movie, but director Todd Phillips has given his official answer as to her fate. In the movie, Beetz plays single mother Sophie, a young woman who lives in a neighboring apartment to Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix).

After the two begin dating, Arthur barges into her home unannounced after a particularly rough day, at which point it's revealed Sophie doesn't really know him and their entire relationship had been imagined by Arthur. Phillips deliberately chose to keep filmgoers guessing by not showing exactly what happened after that moment, but the director now confirms Arthur didn't harm Sophie Dumond like many viewers may have feared.

"He doesn't kill her, definitively. As the filmmaker and the writer I am saying he doesn't kill her. We like the idea that it's almost like a litmus test for the audience to say, 'how crazy is he?' Most people that I've spoken to think he didn't kill her because they understand the idea that he only kills people that did him wrong. She had nothing to do with it. Most people understood that, even as a villain, he was living by a certain code. Of course he didn't kill this woman down the hall."

Additionally, Phillips also revealed he had a Joker cut scene which wouldn't have left any mystery surrounding Sophie's fate. According to the filmmaker, the script originally included a cutaway during Arthur's interview with Murray Franklin on television with Sophie watching the events unfold. Of course, had this moment made it to the big screen, it would have left no room for doubt as to whether Arthur had actually killed Sophie. Ultimately, Phillips says he chose to leave the cutaway on the cutting room floor, as Joker is told strictly from Arthur's point of view and cutting to Sophie "would have disrupted the film's narrative structure."

As Phillips suggests, it appears the majority of viewers didn't believe Arthur killed Sophie, recognizing the character had proper motivation for the others he chose to murder during his transformation into the Joker. Let us not forget when he viciously murdered Randall before casually unlocking the door to let Gary go, appreciating how his former co-worker had always been nice to him. Knowing what we know about the character's future, we can surmise he may grow into more and more of a cold-blooded psychopath as the years progress and his mental health continues to deteriorate. But, at least at the start of his life as the Clown Prince of Crime, Arthur is only harming those who've somehow wronged him.

Since its release in theaters last month, Joker has reached astronomical heights at the box office. It has set the record as the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time, surpassing both Deadpool and Deadpool 2. Oddly enough, Zazie Beetz also appears in the latter as Domino. This success no doubt has Warner Bros. considering the possibility of a sequel to further explore Arthur's transition from a failing comedian into Gotham City's most fearsome menace, setting up his eventual feud against the Dark Knight. However, many fans have been vocal with their opinions that Joker should remain a one-and-done story, noting a sequel could cheapen the profound impact of the original.

Joker continues to play in theaters everywhere as its monumental box office profits continue to climb. As for Sophie, I'm sure it must have been awfully frightening for the character to see Arthur murder a man on TV so soon after finding him in her apartment, but at least she survived to tell the tale. This news comes to us from IndieWire.