Emma Watson’s Wild R-Rated Appearance in This Is the End Hits Netflix and Surprises New Audiences
Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s 2013 apocalypse comedy This Is the End is gaining fresh attention now that it’s streaming on Netflix, and many viewers are rediscovering Emma Watson’s unexpected, fiercely memorable cameo. The film blends chaotic disaster humor with self-mocking celebrity performances, and Watson’s intense, axe-wielding moment remains one of its most talked-about surprises.
The movie follows exaggerated versions of well-known actors—Seth Rogen, James Franco, Jonah Hill, Jay Baruchel, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson, and Michael Cera—all playing over-the-top versions of themselves. The story begins when Jay Baruchel visits Los Angeles to reconnect with Rogen, who takes him to a housewarming party at Franco’s place. Before anyone settles in, a series of violent earthquakes shakes the city, and blue beams shoot into the sky, pulling people upward in a frightening interpretation of the biblical rapture. With chaos erupting outside, the group barricades themselves inside Franco’s new home.
What follows is a messy, panicked, and often absurd attempt at surviving the apocalypse with barely any useful supplies. The group inventories what they have: twelve bottles of water, a huge stockpile of alcohol and marijuana, a small amount of fruit, some pizza, Captain Crunch, a shrinking jar of Nutella, and a loaded revolver. Their egos clash instantly, and nearly every decision they make escalates into more danger. Characters die, tempers flare, and the team’s selfishness becomes part of the joke.
The film leans heavily on self-referential humor, cameos, slapstick disasters, and constant jabs at the cast’s public personas. Rogen and Baruchel’s strained friendship serves as a loose emotional anchor, but the focus remains on the escalating absurdity inside the house as the outside world burns.
Some standout scenes include Michael Cera getting slapped by Rihanna, Franco and McBride arguing over crude survival etiquette, Jonah Hill awkwardly praising Baruchel’s “sick references,” and the group making one terrible plan after another. It’s a simple setup—a party that spirals into the literal end of the world—but the film thrives on how catastrophically unprepared every character is.
This brings us to Emma Watson’s memorable moment. When she appears mid-crisis, she storms through Franco’s house wielding an axe, reacting to a wildly misinterpreted conversation about post-apocalyptic sexual politics. Her brief appearance is chaotic, sharp, and intentionally jarring, emphasizing the film’s commitment to pushing its actors far outside their typical screen images. Watson’s cameo remains one of the most replayed scenes today, often discussed in articles such as this one from news.com.au, which dives deeper into her reaction to the scene during production.
Despite its intentionally ridiculous premise, This Is the End has earned a reputation as one of the standout studio comedies of the 2010s. Fans still praise its chemistry, self-deprecating humor, and bold willingness to make every character look awful. The film mixes end-times chaos with stoner-comedy energy, delivering a blend of biblical disaster, celebrity parody, and outrageous group dynamics.
Now streaming on Netflix, it’s once again easy to revisit—or discover for the first time—this unapologetically wild, R-rated comedy that shows what might happen if the “worst people imaginable” tried to survive the apocalypse under one very unlucky roof.
