- - “The Copenhagen Test” Ending Explained: Who Hacked Alexander's Brain and Why?

Jane LaCroixDecember 27, 2025 at 7:00 AM

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THE COPENHAGEN TEST -- Episode 101 -- Pictured: (l-r) Melissa Barrera as Michelle, Simu Liu as Alexander

Peacock's The Copenhagen Test might look like your classic espionage thriller at first glance, but by the end of its eight-episode run, it twists into something much more unsettling.

The series follows Alexander Hale (Simu Liu), a first-generation Chinese-American intelligence analyst whose life takes a terrifying turn when he discovers his brain has been hacked by unknown forces who can see and hear everything he does. Caught between his own agency and invisible adversaries, Alexander must perform at all times — not just to prove his loyalty, but to uncover who’s behind the breach and why.

Working for a covert intelligence watchdog known as The Orphanage, an internal affairs–style organization created to monitor and police America’s clandestine agencies, Alexander finds himself in turmoil. Operating largely in secret, The Orphanage exists to identify compromised missions and potential moles — a mandate that becomes painfully ironic once Alexander realizes the threat isn’t external, but embedded inside his own mind.

For Liu, the role was an opportunity to stretch beyond his action-hero roots. The Shang-Chi star, who also served as an executive producer on the project, said his character “becomes his own director,” evolving from a cog in the system into someone who must think, perform and deceive with split-second precision.

"He's an elite actor, but he's also a director because he's literally controlling the camera and being a storyteller," Liu said to Entertainment Weekly in November 2025.

If you’re still piecing together exactly what went down — and how Alexander’s loyalty, identity and survival all come into play in the finale — here's everything to know about The Copenhagen Test ending.

How did The Copenhagen Test end?

Christos Kalohoridis/PEACOCK

THE COPENHAGEN TEST -- Episode 108 -- Pictured: Simu Liu as Alexander

The Copenhagen Test season 1 closes with Alexander making one final, high-risk play to prove he hasn’t flipped on the agency — even as nearly every intelligence operative involved believes he has. After learning that a man named Schiff (Adam Godly) is thought to be the hacker and intends to kill Alexander’s parents if he doesn’t do as he says, Alexander appears to turn on his handlers, agreeing to lead Schiff to the elusive intelligence leader known as St. George (Kathleen Chalfant) in exchange for their lives. But the betrayal is a calculated illusion.

Unbeknownst to Schiff, Alexander leads him to a decoy instead of the real St. George. The move works — until Schiff realizes he’s been played. Before he can retaliate, Schiff is shot, cutting the confrontation short and leaving Alexander’s fate hanging in the balance.

It turns out, Alexander’s agency finally recognized what he’s been doing all along. Parker (Sinclair Daniel) pieces it together after realizing Alexander spoke about betraying them out loud, despite knowing his apartment was bugged — a signal meant to alert them that everything was a performance. As the only analyst who suspected the hack from the beginning, Parker becomes the person who understands him better than anyone else inside The Orphanage. The realization is confirmed when she catches onto the fact that Alexander tells his parents he loves them in Haka, a language he only uses with his family when something is serious.

Complicating everything further is Michelle (Melissa Barrera), a woman Alexander initially believes is a bartender he meets by chance — and later reconnects with romantically. In reality, Michelle has been embedded in Alexander’s life by The Orphanage as part of a long-running loyalty test tied to a past mission in Belarus, where Alexander made an impossible choice that has haunted him ever since.

The finale also delivers two devastating reveals. First, Alexander learns that Rachel (Hannah Cruz), his ex-fiancée, knowingly gave him anti-anxiety pills that allowed nanites to invade his system, therefore hacking his senses — meaning she had been part of the operation from the start.

And second, it’s revealed that Schiff wasn’t the mastermind behind Alexander’s hacking at all; he simply benefited from it. The test was originally ordered by Victor (Saul Rubinek), Alexander’s trusted friend and mentor, who engineered the experiment long before Alexander realized he was its subject.

Who hacked Alexander and how?

Christos Kalohoridis/PEACOCK

THE COPENHAGEN TEST -- Episode 105 -- Pictured: (l-r) Sinclair Daniel as Parker, Brian D’Arcy James Sara Amini as Ellie

In the last five minutes of the series, it’s revealed that Schiff didn’t hack Alexander — Victor did. Tracking him down to his restaurant, Alexander lays out what he’s pieced together about the situation so far. He tells Victor that Cobb (Mark O’Brien), another intelligence agent, was watching him the night he led Schiff to St. George — and that Cobb overheard Victor making a call. While Cobb couldn’t hear everything, two phrases stood out: “carousel” and “he’s injured.” To Cobb, it sounded like someone calling in medical assistance and executing a plan.

Alexander directly asks Victor whether Rachel had been working with him the entire time — and whether Victor was the one who hacked him. Victor doesn’t deny it. He admits that Rachel knowingly gave him the anti-anxiety pills and was in on the operation throughout their relationship, which is ultimately why they split. He admits that he ordered the Copenhagen Test himself, insisting it wasn’t personal but necessary, and that Alexander was chosen because he was trusted.

Victor leads Alexander through the tunnels of the restaurant, which conceal a large surveillance operation. Screens light up with feeds from multiple other hacked individuals, all unknowingly serving as assets. He explains that the Copenhagen Test was never about Alexander alone — it was about proving whether a human being could remain loyal, functional and self-aware while living inside a fabricated reality. Alexander was simply the first successful iteration.

Does Alexander still have his senses hacked?

Christos Kalohoridis/PEACOCK

THE COPENHAGEN TEST -- Episode 102 -- Pictured: (l-r) Melissa Barrera as Michelle, Simu Liu as Alexander

The answer is yes — but not in the same way as before. Alexander’s senses are no longer being broadcast uncontrollably, but he isn’t fully free either.

After Parker and the agency realize Alexander never flipped, The Orphanage ultimately saves him, but not without a little damage. Alexander suffers a seizure and goes unconscious, and the team successfully saves him.

After coming to, John (Brian d'Arcy James), who is leading the operation, explains to Alexander that they implanted a neural “governor” into his system while he was under. The device allows Alexander to shut off the live broadcast of his senses, finally giving him agency over when others can see, hear and experience the world through him.

John hopes that Alexander will consider doing more work with them in the future, and gives him time to mull it over.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”