What happened to Ridgeway on The Underground Railroad?

We spent a lot of time following Ridgeway in his search for Cora on The Underground Railroad. What happened to him in the end?

Ridgeway took Cora’s escape from the Randall plantation personally. Her mother, Mabel, had been the only slave to get away, and he wanted to make sure that didn’t happen with Cora. It turned out that Mabel met a sad fate in her unintended (without Cora, anyway) escape. However, Ridgeway and Cora would never know that.

Throughout the 10 episodes of The Underground Railroad, we learned why he turned to bounty hunting, getting to know his feelings about Black people. The question throughout was whether he’d get Cora back to the Georgia plantation or not.

What exactly happened to Ridgeway in the end? Did he live to capture other runaway slaves?

Ridgeway met Death on The Underground Railroad

Throughout the last episodes, Ridgeway made it clear that he wasn’t going to let Cora go. He intended to get her back to the Randall plantation.

As she escaped his clutches again, he caught up with her. He forced her to take him to the station, which she did. And that was where he would eventually meet his end. We actually caught up to the scene at the very start of the series with Cora and someone else falling through one of the station entrances.

Cora had managed to pull Ridgeway off the ladder to the bottom of the station. However, she fell at the same time. Fortunately or her, Ridgeway was below her and she landed on him. His bones were broken, but that’s not the end. He refuses to accept that he’s failed, and makes it clear to Cora that he will find her wherever she goes.

Cora can’t let that happen. She ends up killing Ridgeway with a gun before running away and getting to freedom.

What did you think of the ending for Ridgeway on The Underground Railroad? What did you think of the adaptation of the novel? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

The Underground Railroad is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.