Let's Unpack That Kissing Booth 3 Ending With Elle And Noah

At long last, The Kissing Booth fans finally found out whether Elle Evans and Noah Flynn ended up together or not, and it didn’t exactly go as many fans might have expected. Netflix dropped The Kissing Booth 3 on Wednesday, Aug. 11, marking the end of the rom-com film series, and of course, Elle and Noah’s rollercoaster romance was at the center of all the movie’s drama. While the final scene may have been a bit unexpected, Elle and Noah’s Kissing Booth 3 ending is actually a perfect little throwback to the first movie, showing just how far they’ve come.

Spoiler alert: This post contains spoilers for The Kissing Booth 3. Elle and Noah started off their pre-college summer stronger than ever, with Elle even deciding to attend Harvard with her boyfriend instead of Berkeley with her bestie, Lee. But of course, their relationship didn’t remain sunny for long. Noah’s jealousy over Marco’s continued interest in Elle ended in a blowup, and out of fear that Elle was making the wrong college choice just to be with him, Noah broke up with her.

The summer ended with Noah and Elle going their separate ways as cordial exes — Noah returned to Harvard and Elle decided to pursue video game design at the University of Southern California. That wasn’t really the end, though. Before the credits rolled, the film flashed forward six years to show an older Elle reuniting with Noah back at the school carnival’s kissing booth, where it all began.

Although they don’t get back together right then and there, the ending heavily suggests they begin dating again soon afterward. As Noah left the carnival, he turned around and waved at Elle, causing her to tear up and smile. The moment is a direct reference to the ending of the first Kissing Booth movie. In the 2018 flick, when Elle sees Noah off to college at the airport, she tells him: “Don’t turn back for a final wave. That is way too cheesy and romantic, even for me.” Noah listened to her then, walking straight to his plane without giving Elle one last glance, but this time around, he clearly couldn’t help himself from making the “cheesy and romantic” gesture.

It’s a sweet full-circle moment that nicely wraps up Elle and Noah’s love story on a hopeful note. Here’s hoping they outgrew all their messy drama and can finally settle down with a happily ever after.

The Kissing Booth 3 is streaming on Netflix now.