Apple TV+’s ‘The Afterparty’ Ending Explained: Who Killed Xavier?

Apple TV+’s captivating mystery comedy The Afterparty is the best kept secret on streaming. Christopher Miller’s superb Rashomon-style whodunit is not only one of the flat-out funniest shows of 2022, but it’s also produced one of the most intriguing mysteries in recent memory. If you have yet to experience the enchanting charms of this delightfully offbeat series, catch up now because, good news alert, the show was recently renewed for a second season.

*** The Afterparty season finale spoilers ahead ***

The central mystery of the season revolved around the apparent murder of famous musician/actor Xavier (Dave Franco) that took place at a high school reunion after party. Each uniquely stylized episode was a retelling of the same night told through a different character’s perspective. There were countless suspects, with Aniq (Sam Richardson) emerging as the first potential assailant. But as the season continued, Zoe (Zoe Chao), Brett (Ike Barinholtz), Chelsea (Ilana Glazer), and many more found themselves under the ominous cloud of suspicion. So who did it? Who killed Xavier?

I’ll give everyone one shot (twice) to guess.

The season finale of The Afterparty revealed the culprit: Yasper (Ben Schwartz).

In retrospect, of course it was Yasper, right? He’s such a goofy, inherently likable character that he belies suspicion. In the season finale, six-year-old Maggie (Zoe and Brett’s daughter) provides her account of the night in question, helping to confirm Detective Danner’s (Tiffany Haddish) assertion that Yasper killed Xavier. Escape room aficionado Aniq also came to the same conclusion after realizing that due to an open closet door, the killer had to be hiding in Xavier’s closet moments before his death.

When previously installing Xavier’s AV system, Yasper came across the singer’s new song, which used a line (“How great is this party?”) that Yasper “made famous” in high school. At the reunion, Xavier, who was still bitter about Yasper breaking up their ska band in high school, refused to bless Yasper’s new track. Enraged at his former friend’s supposed betrayal, Yasper lied and told everyone that Xavier agreed to bless his track, and even took an “alibi selfie” in the studio to help cover his tracks.

After Chelsea exited Xavier’s room, Yasper appeared from the closet, blasted their old ska band’s music to cover any incriminating noise, punched Xavier, threw him over the balcony to his death, and then dropped down from Xavier’s bedroom balcony to the floor below to rejoin the party as if he’d been there the entire time. The episode concludes with Yasper’s arrest, Detective Danner offering to help Aniq get a job in law enforcement, and an adorable makeout session between Aniq and Zoe.

Will we see more of Zoe and Aniq in Season 2? Sadly, that remains a mystery. The only concrete details regarding the second season is that Haddish will return for the show’s sophomore run.

All eight episodes of The Afterparty are now streaming on Apple TV+.