You remember that feeling. You're scrolling through Netflix, or maybe you saw it on a YouTube sidebar back in 2017, and this trailer pops up. A grizzled Willem Dafoe is standing in a dimly lit room, explaining a terrifying rule to seven identical little girls. "You will all take on the singular identity of Karen Settman."
The What Happened to Monday trailer didn't just market a movie; it sold a high-concept nightmare that stuck in the collective brain of sci-fi fans.
Honestly, the premise was a total "what if" goldmine. In a world choked by overpopulation, a one-child policy is enforced with lethal precision. Then, boom—septuplets. Seven sisters, all played by the powerhouse Noomi Rapace, hiding in a single apartment. They each get one day a week to go outside, named after the day they’re allowed to exist. Monday goes out on Monday. Tuesday on Tuesday. You get it.
Then, one day, Monday doesn’t come home.
The Trailer That Promised Everything
When the first official footage dropped, it felt different from the usual polished Hollywood blockbusters. This was grit. This was "Euro-camp" at its finest, directed by Tommy Wirkola—the same guy who gave us Nazi zombies in Dead Snow. The trailer leaned heavily into the contrast between the sisters’ distinct personalities: the blonde, the nerd, the rebel, the athlete.
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The music? It featured a track called "Weaponized" by Phantom Power Music. It had this ticking, mechanical urgency that made your heart race before the action even started. It perfectly captured the clinical, cold vibe of the Child Allocation Bureau (C.A.B.), led by a terrifyingly calm Glenn Close.
People were obsessed with the technical wizardry shown in those two minutes. Seeing seven Noomi Rapaces in one frame—interacting, arguing, fighting—looked seamless. It promised a performance tour de force. And for the most part, it delivered.
Why the Hype Was Different
Most trailers give away the whole plot. The What Happened to Monday trailer was smarter than that. It gave us the rules of the world and the inciting incident, but it left the mystery wide open.
- The stakes: If the government finds out, they "liquidate" the extra siblings.
- The mystery: Did Monday get caught, or did she defect?
- The visuals: High-tech gadgets mixed with rainy, overcrowded streets that felt like Blade Runner’s poorer cousin.
It’s interesting to note that in many parts of the world, the movie wasn't even called What Happened to Monday. It was titled Seven Sisters. But the "Monday" title is what stuck in the US and UK because it posed a question that demanded an answer.
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What Actually Happened to Monday (Spoilers Ahead)
If you're here because the trailer hooked you but you never actually sat through the two-hour runtime, the payoff is darker than the marketing let on.
Monday didn't get snatched off the street by accident. She wasn't just a victim of the system. She was the system, sort of. In a twist that some saw coming and others found devastating, it turns out Monday had fallen in love. She was pregnant—with twins.
In a world where having a second child is a death sentence, Monday made a deal with the devil. She sold out her sisters to Nicolette Cayman to save her own children. She wanted to be the real Karen Settman, full-time. No more sharing a life. No more hiding in an attic six days a week.
It turns out the "cryosleep" the government promised for extra children was a lie. They weren't being frozen for a better future; they were being incinerated. The trailer hinted at the darkness, but the reality of the "Child Allocation" process was pure horror.
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Why We Still Talk About This Movie
The film currently sits with a 59% on Rotten Tomatoes, which feels a bit low for how much impact it had on social media. Critics were split. Some loved the "Parent Trap on crack" vibe, while others thought the plot had more holes than a Swiss cheese.
But for the average viewer? The What Happened to Monday trailer represents a peak era of "high-concept Netflix." It was the kind of movie you'd discover at 11 PM on a Tuesday and stay up way too late watching.
Noomi Rapace's performance is objectively insane. She had to film scenes seven times over, reacting to nothing, playing seven different versions of the same soul. It’s the kind of technical achievement that usually gets more awards buzz than a "popcorn" sci-fi flick ever receives.
Actionable Insights for Sci-Fi Fans
If you're looking to revisit this world or find something that scratches that same itch, here is how you should dive back in:
- Watch the "Making Of" featurettes. Seeing how they filmed the kitchen fight scene with multiple Noomis is actually more impressive than the movie itself.
- Look for the "Seven Sisters" cut. If you can find the international version, sometimes the pacing and title cards feel a bit different than the standard Netflix US release.
- Check out Orphan Black. If the "clone/sibling mystery" aspect of the trailer was what got you, this TV show is the gold standard of the genre. Tatiana Maslany does for clones what Rapace did for the Settman sisters.
- Read the original Black List script. Before it was a movie, What Happened to Monday was one of the most famous unproduced scripts in Hollywood. The original version was actually written for seven brothers, but Wirkola changed it specifically so he could work with Rapace.
The trailer promised a mystery that stayed with us long after the credits rolled. Whether you loved the ending or found it a bit too bleak, there’s no denying that the hook—seven sisters, one life—is one of the best sci-fi setups of the last decade.