Some fans believe Elena was meant to return. That she was watching from afar during Ana and Christian’s wedding. That she knew about the pregnancy. That she was waiting for her moment—not to seduce Christian again, but to manipulate their children.
A few frames in Fifty Shades Freed show a woman in the background at the charity event—blonde, poised, watching. She’s never named. But viewers have zoomed in and speculated: could that be Elena in disguise?
A deleted scene reportedly showed Christian receiving an anonymous note the morning of his wedding, warning:
“Some bonds never break, no matter how much you pretend they do.”
That scene never made the final cut.
And it wasn’t the only one.
There were rumors during production of a darker alternate ending—one where Ana finds a photo in Christian’s desk drawer. It’s of Elena. And on the back, a handwritten message:
“She’ll never love you the way I did.”
Why didn’t we get this version?
Perhaps the studio wanted a lighter conclusion. Or maybe… they’re saving Elena for something more. A sequel. A prequel. A spin-off about the women who shaped Christian Grey.
Or worse—about the ones he never escaped.
The idea that Elena could still be out there, watching, waiting, possibly connected to their children’s future, sends a chill down the spine of longtime fans. Especially since Christian never fully processed what she did to him. The abuse. The grooming. The manipulation.
Did he really move on?
Or did he simply bury it?
One fan theory suggests that Ana’s second child—the one she’s pregnant with in the last scene—could grow up to find letters or emails from Elena to Christian. What if they spark an identity crisis? A search for truth? A quest to understand a father who kept too many secrets?
The Fifty Shades series gave us passion, power, and a touch of darkness.
But it also gave us a villain who never got her ending.
And maybe that’s the point.
Because sometimes, the most dangerous characters… are the ones you think you’ve already left behind.
