At face value, the idea of a movie or book about a talking octopus might not be high on everyone’s radar. But Remarkably Bright Creatures, a Netflix movie based on a novel of the same name, is much more than that. The story follows Tova, a night janitor at an aquarium, and Marcellus, an aging octopus. Tova talks to Marcellus regularly, and Marcellus talks too, though it’s only through his thoughts that viewers hear.

In that way, it’s a bit of a fantasy, but everything else in the movie and book is rooted in reality. Like Tova’s son Erik, who died years before the events of the story. However, because the nature of his death is a bit of a mystery in the plot, viewers of the Netflix film want to know how her son died in Remarkably Bright Creatures.

It is explained in the movie that Tova’s son Erik died when he was 18 years old in a sailing accident. However, there are rumors in the small Washington town that he died by suicide.

This is something that has followed Tova into her older years, especially since she and her son had an argument about a broken heirloom prior to him leaving the house and going sailing.

The way Erik died isn’t explained outright, but it is made clear by the end of the movie that he died in a tragic accident. Tova at first believes that a mysterious girlfriend was the cause of her son’s death so many years ago, due to emotional struggles with them, or that her fight was the reason Erik might have harmed himself.

But, it turns out, the sailing accident was just that. At the end of the movie, Tova learns that Erik tried to fix the broken figurine and that he clearly felt love for her rather than the hate she worried was there toward the end of his short life.

Even though he died before the actual events of the story, Erik’s death is still important for Tova moving forward.

Marcellus is not a character in the traditional sense, but his mental commentary, and his efforts in bringing Tova together with her long lost grandson, are integral to the plot of both the novel and the Netflix movie. So, who actually voices Marcellus in Remarkably Bright Creatures? If you’re a Spider-Man fan, you might recognize the voice from another octopus of sorts.

Alfred Molina, who plays Doc Ock in 2004’s Spider-Man and again in the 2021 movie Spider-Man: No Way Home, is the voice behind the aging sea creature. He’s not the only connection that Remarkably Bright Creatures has to Spider-Man movies, either. Sally Field, who plays Tova, is also the Aunt May of the Andrew Garfield Spider-Man films.

It might not be a connection anyone expected, but clearly, Netflix wanted the right actors and voices for this movie adaptation.