Will is now pushing 40. Is he still with Skyler? Did they have kids? Did his life work out? Is he in jail? Did he go to college, if so, what do you think he would be doing?
shareI can't see someone with as many interests as Will confining himself to mathematics alone. And I sure can't feature him working for the NSA. He is still damaged when he leaves and definitely needs more therapy. Skyler may help but he needs more. I could see him looking up so much to Sean (Robin Williams) that he follows in his footsteps and becomes a teacher or even a social worker, rather than "sit in a room and do long division all day".
He's amazingly well-read so I imagine he would want to discuss those things if he can get past the idea that he is destined to fail. Just because he doesn't become like Lambeau and win a Fields Medal does not make him a failure (I think Lambeau is the loser--I've known a few guys like that at University: successful in their careers but duds in their personal lives). He is too open to new things and other fields to become another number-cruncher.
As he jokingly said to Sean, I could see him getting a farm (he says it would be Nashua, NH, but he could do it anywhere) and raising sheep! I know many people with math and physics PhD's who went on to do totally different things, like organic farming, teaching on a Navajo reservation and running a health spa in L.A. Only Sean was right when he said that Will shouldn't be "pushed" by them to do what they (the older guys) did.
I followed all the rules...Man's and God's. You followed none of them. And they all loved you more.
I'm surprised no one has really voiced this.
Sean and Will are the same person. I don't mean literally, I mean metaphorically.
Both had abusive childhoods
Both were geniuses
Both chose to minimize their abilities.
Both had the capacity to sacrifice and love others completely. Sean goaded his father to protect his brother and mother. Will would have done anything for his posse.
Oh, there's variations. But Sean was probably a petty criminal as well and was told "go to war, or go to jail"
Much like Will was told, "Go to therapy, take Math lessons....or go to jail.
Sean probably did excel in school. But again, a bit of a thug.
His wake up call was probably the war. That would have been his first adult trauma and tragedy.
He gave Will his wake up call with therapy.
At a crucial, critical, life changing moment, they used the same line. For Sean, it was taking the chance on a girl. For Will, it was also taking a chance on financial security or choosing a girl.
So as Will grew up, he probably did follow Sean somehow. I think he would have loved some of the challenges of a college classroom - as long as the professor challenged students outside of just parroting the textbooks.
While I think Will would have made an excellent therapist, I think he went into research.
I heard he went to this secret wormhole orbiting Saturn, and landed on a planet with frozen clouds where he then froze himself, but was woken up by Matthew McConaughey, and then tried to kill him and steal his spaceship, but was blown up when he tried to dock with it......
His buddy, however, did a lot better - he had a successful comic book, dated a lesbian, and later became super wealthy and decided to don a mask and fight crime (inspired by his comic, which was inspired by a fat guy with a beard who sold pot).
I hear he got into a scuffle recently with that reporter from the Daily Planet...
I think he probably couldn't hack the stresses of working at a government think tank, so he probably opened a small fruit stand. Of course, his favourite item to sell would be apples, and he'd ask every return customer if they liked them.
Cardboard Box is the Future.
Well... maybe he would be working with Stephen Hawking..
sharei think he has a mostly positive life. he got married, still is with her, they loved each other,
they were perfect for each other. that was the whole point of the whole movie... .they complimented each other.
he probably had no trouble at all finding work and the girl had an inheritance so i doubt they had money problems.
he probably became a teacher eventually