Each episode is told from the perspective of a single character and plays out in the style of a certain subgenre (so one episode feels like an action movie, another like a psychological thriller, and so on). There’s even an animated episode, and each installment is laugh-out-loud hilarious to boot. The series clearly draws inspiration from classic Agatha Christie whodunits as well as the beloved board game-turned-cult-classic movie Clue; it’s peppered with so many Easter eggs and hidden clues that many fans have rewatched each episode multiple times to catch even the slightest hints, while Afterparty fans are also blowing up forums like Reddit with theories about the killer. While Feb. 25’s penultimate episode offered little in the way of new clues, it did provide context by the way of Detective Danner’s “mind movie” that finally allowed her to put the pieces together, after lingering on the open door to Xavier’s recording studio. What does that mean, though? We’ll find out on the March 4 finale, and until then, here’s our roundup of who may have killed Xavier on TheAfterparty, complete with motives, suspects, and the cleverly hidden puzzles that potentially exonerate some of them.
Did Aniq kill Xavier on TheAfterparty?
Aniq is Detective Danner’s prime suspect, if only because she hasn’t yet found any proof that he didn’t do it. When we first meet Aniq, he is hopeful about reconnecting with his high school crush, Zoe. His version of events plays out like a classic romantic comedy starring Aniq as the “adorkable” male lead, sweet and respectful (ad libbing cleaner lyrics to Khia’s “My Neck, My Back (Lick It)”? Who wouldn’t fall for that?). In episode 5, “High School,” we learned that Aniq and Xavier had an antagonistic relationship. Xavier blames Aniq for not getting into Stanford, and after Xavier pushes Aniq into the pool at a St. Patrick’s Day party (making it possible for Brett to swoop in and gain Zoe’s affection) Aniq went ballistic and attacks Xavier’s car with a baseball bat. Xavier pressed charges, Aniq lost his scholarship to Stanford, and we have a motive for murder—especially since, to Aniq’s mind, history is repeating itself at the afterparty; we’ve already seen how Aniq can snap if provoked. Danner’s “open door” epiphany may point to the fact that at one point, Aniq was hiding in the studio. Still, present-day Aniq seems to not harbor much resentment about what happened in high school. Plus, given his career as an escape-room designer, Aniq is in a better position to solve the crime than be a suspect.
Did Brett kill Xavier on The Afterparty?
Brett comes off as a hothead with some anger management issues. His marriage is over, and he is furious at Xavier for hitting on Zoe. But he’s also trying to be a good dad and doesn’t come across as being terribly prone to physical violence. It’s weird that his Facebook password is “diarrhea,” the word that someone wrote on Aniq’s neck (spelled incorrectly) while he was passed out, but that’s not enough to make him the killer. There’s also a hidden clue in the first episode in which flashing lights spell out NOT THE FIREMAN in Morse code. In the second episode, Brett tells Zoe he’s become a volunteer fireman, suggesting we can safely eliminate him from the suspect pool.
Did Chelsea kill Xavier on TheAfterparty?
In high school, Chelsea was class president and dated the most popular boy, but her reputation took a major hit at the St. Patrick’s Day party when Xavier lied to everyone that they’d slept together. Since then, Chelsea has been on a serious downward spiral and she blames Xavier for it all. She admits to Danner that she had planned to drug Xavier—but not to kill him, just to get him in a compromising position that could potentially ruin his career. Her claim that she changed her mind at the last minute, though, is a little hard to swallow. If the hidden clues are anything to go by, however, the most recent one from Zoe’s episode eliminates the “cake eater” from the suspect pool. At the St. Patrick’s Day party, Chelsea eats the frosting of a cake–technically not the cake part, but maybe we shouldn’t get too bogged down in semantics. We still think Chelsea is hiding something, but it’s probably not murder.
Did Walt kill Xavier on The Afterparty?
Walt’s the awkward wallflower no one remembers from high school. He barely registers in everyone’s retellings of the events that led to Xavier’s death. At the beginning of the series, though, Walt is heard muttering, “I’ll make sure they don’t forget [tonight]”, plus his last name is Butler… Walt’s an obvious red herring, right? Unless that’s what the show’s creators want us to think. Eagle-eyed viewers have pointed out that Walt is the only attendee who doesn’t have an iPhone—which, according to Knives Out director Rian Johnson, is per an Apple rule disallowing villains from using their products. It’s not hard to conjure up a motive, either: maybe he’s an obsessive fan? Maybe he was overlooked one time too many and finally snapped?
Did Yasper kill Xavier on The Afterparty?
Xavier’s former bandmate, Yasper (shoutout to their erstwhile ska outfit, Ska-pe Diem!) first wins our hearts by selflessly acting as Aniq’s wingman at the reunion, distracting Xavier so Aniq can have one-on-one time with Zoe. Despite his likability, though, Yasper is clearly harboring some resentment over Xavier’s success. (It was Yasper’s idea to break up their band, and he repeatedly tells everyone at the reunion that he is responsible for Xavier’s career.) Hearing Xavier’s track, “How Great Is This Party,” which was Yasper’s signature at their high school concerts, could be what pushed him over the edge, especially after Xavier has been blowing Yasper’s request to “bless his track” all night. Yasper is clearly familiar with Xavier’s security system, knows about the hidden camera in the bedroom, and could have the means to destroy that footage remotely–in fact, we might have seen him do this when he claimed to have been on Twitter. And then there’s the handwritten song lyrics Aniq finds ripped up in the trash, with their distinctive “E"s. Danner matches the handwriting to the framed copy of “X Marks the G Spot” hanging on the wall and says they’re Xavier’s lyrics, and when she dismisses the lyrics to “Revenge” as trash, the camera cuts to Yasper looking rather hurt. Twice we witness Xavier making voice recordings of lyrics in progress, suggesting this is his preferred method. In Danner’s episode, Yasper tries a little too hard to elicit a positive response from Zoe and Aniq to Xavier’s songs, further suggesting he’s been ghostwriting lyrics. Danner’s dot-connecting with the studio’s open door could be pointing to Yasper as well. After Culp mocks Danner’s reasoning that Vaughn dressed up like a package thief to kill his wife (“He would have needed her to open the door at the exact same moment that he was about to steal the package”) Danner looks at the open door to the studio and has a revelation. One theory on Reddit is that she realizes that the wife probably got a text from her husband to open the door–she’s seen on the doorbell cam holding her phone. And who was desperately texting Xavier at the afterparty? The timing of Yasper playing the Ska-pe Diem video at full volume and his repeated texts to Xavier sure seem suspicious. With one episode to go, Yasper is the strongest suspect.
Did Zoe kill Xavier on The Afterparty?
Zoe is recently divorced (almost; Brett has yet to sign the papers) and wants the reunion to be her first chance since getting pregnant with Maggie to let “Fun Zoe” loose for a wild night. Her animated version of the night shows us that Xavier was a pathetic creep just trying to get in her pants, which justifies a punch to the nose (suggested by a lingering closeup of Zoe’s hands at the beginning of the episode) but maybe not a push to his death. While her good girl demeanor (Tiny Rage Zoe notwithstanding) could be a cover for a darker ulterior motive, Zoe is eliminated from the suspect pool in Episode 7. When Danner is sent on a coffee run, there is a shot of a cluttered bulletin board in the background. The negative space on that board spells out “NOT THE BEAR,” which points to Zoe’s Mama Bear personality.
Did Jenn 1 or Jenn 2 kill Xavier on The Afterparty?
The Jennifers (Tiya Sircar, Ayden Mayeri) are mean girls to be sure, but do they have motive for murder? Jenn 2 did (conveniently) disappear at some point before the detectives arrived, though the puddle Danner slips in at the beginning could be from her water breaking as she is now at the hospital giving birth. There is a hidden puzzle clue in the slideshow Brett shows at the reunion, with semaphore positions spelling out NOT THE PUDDLE. Could this be referring to Jenn 2? Jenn 1 is wearing an X barrette in her hair which seems like a deliberate choice for a night she knew would end at the house of the star famous for a song called “X Marks the G Spot.” Whose baby are you having, Jenn 1? It’s also odd that Jenn 1 wasn’t even aware Jenn 2 had disappeared until someone else pointed out she was gone. If the puddle at the entrance is from Jenn 2’s water breaking, why wouldn’t her BFF have known about it? Something is up with those two.
Did Ned kill Xavier on The Afterparty?
Ned has always believed that, after Chelseas broke up with him, she immediately went and slept with Xavier. (We learned this in Walt’s episode.) Ned only finds out the truth after Xavier’s death. If the premise that Jenn 1 has also slept with Xavier (see above, and again, this is mostly conjecture, but go with it for now) and Ned somehow found out, might this push him toward drastic measures out of jealous rage? OK, so Ned doesn’t seem prone to rage issues. He’s definitely more of a prankster, and not a very good or original one at that. Redditor sleuths have pegged Ned as “the skier” from one of the show’s hidden elimination clues, taking him out of the running. Still, the only alibi both Ned and Jenn 1 have for the time of Xavier’s murder is each other. Maybe they were working in tandem.
Did Indigo kill Xavier on The Afterparty?
The first flashback in the series belongs to Indigo, the pretentious MLM peddler who tells her version of events like an art house movie shot in black and white. Her story posits Aniq as the killer but stops short of claiming she actually saw any proof. Suspicious! One of the show’s hidden clues, however, rules out “the lefty.” (Find this clue in the fourth episode, when Chelsea looks at the yearbook. The photos are of classmates facing different directions, and their middle initials spell out the clue.) When Aniq is gathering handwriting samples, Indigo is seen writing with her left hand. Verdict: Not the killer.
Did Danner kill Xavier on The Afterparty?
It would certainly be a twist for the detective to be the killer, wouldn’t it? Danner seems intent on solving this case herself, despite her captain’s insistence that she merely take witness statements and turn the lead over to Detective Aldrin Germain (Reid Scott) – who literally has the word “RINGER” in the middle of his name. In Episode 7, we learn more about Danner’s history with Germain; namely that he was the lead on a murder case in 2014 and arrested an innocent woman because he was more concerned with his clearance record than solving the case. Danner, not yet a detective, followed the evidence and her instincts to find the actual killer, but her initiative landed her in hot water with the department and derailed her career advancement. Danner’s history gives us raised stakes for her solving Xavier’s murder quickly: if she doesn’t, Germain will simply arrest Aniq to clear the case, whether or not he’s guilty. Furthermore, Germain’s police academy nickname for Danner, “Mad Dog,” clears her from our suspect list, as “NOT MAD DOG” was a hidden puzzle clue from Episode 3, found on a concert shirt with tour dates in locations named after U.S. Presidents.
Did Maggie kill Xavier on The Afterparty?
It wouldn’t be the first murder mystery with a child killer–Agatha Christie did it in Crooked House. Maggie was supposed to be waiting in Brett’s car while he retrieves her beloved Kevin Koala, but she comes inside and he has to chase her down, eventually finding her in the home movie theater, watching Hungry Hungry Hippos. Xavier’s body is found after Brett buckles Maggie back into the car and gives her the koala, and she promptly falls asleep. So according to his timeline of events, Maggie couldn’t be the killer, not even by accident. And she certainly doesn’t have a motive, as she seems to be the only person in the house who actually likes Xavier. She could, however, serve as the only eye-witness to Xavier’s murder, and we’ll find out what Maggie knows in the finale on March 4.
How to watch The Afterparty
The first six episodes of The Afterparty are available to stream exclusively on Apple TV. Episode 7, titled “Danner,” drops Friday, February 25. The final episode will air the following Friday, March 4, exclusively on Apple TV. Next, Is The Gilded Age a True Story? Was George Russell a Real Person? Answer to All Your Questions About HBO’s Period-Piece Hit
