Time Cut’s 3 Timelines & Their Paradoxes Fully Explained

Warning! This article contains spoilers for Netflix’s Time Cut.

Time Cut‘s storyline implies the existence of three different timelines, each with its fair share of paradoxes. Directed by Hannah MacPherson of the School Spirits and Into the Dark fame, Time Cut follows the time-traveling adventures of a teenager named Lucy who accidentally ends up in the past after finding a time machine in 2024. While Lucy’s accidental time travel alone does not trigger a new timeline, she makes several decisions in the past that ultimately alter the future.

As the movie progresses, and the identity of the Sweetly Slasher killer is revealed, it becomes evident that many distinct timelines are at play. While the movie only seems to walk through the events of two timelines, it hints at the existence of a third one by revealing the events that led to the “creation” of the Sweetly Slasher. Since keeping track of Time Cut‘s various timelines can be a little jarring, the movie’s “canon events” and paradoxes demand an explanation.

Timeline 1: Summer Never Dies & Quinn Becomes The Sweetly Slasher

The Movie Does Not Walk Through The Event Of This Timeline

In its opening moments, Time Cut unfolds the events of the 2003 timeline, where the Sweetly Slasher killed Summer and her friends. However, given how the killer traveled from the future to exact revenge on Summer and her friends, there was initially a timeline where Summer lived to become an adult while Quinn gradually became the Sweetly Slasher. In this timeline, while Summer had a fairly normal school life, Quinn was bullied and ostracized by his schoolmates. Summer likely lived to realize her dreams after school. Quinn, on the other hand, doubled down on his efforts to build a time machine.

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Using his scientific forte, Quinn ultimately built a time machine in this timeline and decided to change the future. He traveled back to 2003 and killed Summer and her friends, which marked the inception of a new timeline. Since Time Cut mentions nothing about the existence of alternate timelines, it would be safe to assume that the creation of a new timeline leads to the deletion of the old one. Owing to this, it is hard not to wonder how Quinn’s existence in the new timeline is even possible.

If Quinn’s decision to kill Summer and her friends created a whole new timeline, the old timeline, where Summer survived, should have been erased altogether. This raises a significant paradox: how can Quinn travel back from a future where he is already the Sweetly Slasher to the past where Summer is still alive if the timeline he originated from no longer exists? If the future is merely a branching reality and not a replacement for the old timeline, Quinn’s return to the past as the killer still makes sense. However, if the new timeline replaces the old one, Quinn’s return creates a paradox.

Timeline 2: Summer Is Killed By The Sweetly Slasher & Lucy Is Born

This Timeline Reveals How Summer’s Death Led To Lucy’s Birth

This timeline begins when Quinn travels to the past and murders Summer and her friends. Traumatized by their daughter’s sudden demise, Summer’s parents grieve for several years before deciding to have another child. When Summer was still around, the parents were content with having one child and did not wish to have another. However, Summer’s death left a void they seemingly wanted to fill by having Lucy. Since Summer was supposed to be the only child before Quinn’s time-travel interference, Lucy’s existence was never meant to be.

Time Cut‘s main character, Lucy, also realizes this in her present 2024 timeline and constantly lives in the shadow of her sister’s death. Afraid of losing their second daughter, her parents, too, put many restrictions on her, preventing her from living a life that truly feels her own. Even when Lucy lands an internship at NASA, her parents do not seem too enthusiastic about sending her out of town because they fear they might lose her too.

However, Lucy eventually gets the opportunity to alter history when she accidentally uses Quinn’s time machine to travel to 2003. This creates another major paradox. Lucy’s existence only became a possibility after Summer was murdered by the Sweetly Slasher. Therefore, it is impossible for her to exist in the original timeline where Summer survived. If Lucy had never been born, she would not have been able to use the time machine in the first place.

Timeline 3: Lucy Stops The Sweetly Slasher From Killing Summer & Emmy

This Timeline Ends Things On A Positive Note For Almost All Characters

The third timeline in Time Cut starts to unfold when Lucy travels to 2003 and becomes Quinn’s friend. After she protects him from getting bullied and makes him feel less lonely in high school, Quinn ends up on the right path toward not becoming the Sweetly Slasher in the future. Lucy further sets things right in the third timeline by saving Emmy and Summer from the Sweetly Slasher. To ensure the future version of Quinn, who becomes the killer, does not return to the past to kill Summer and her friends, Lucy also murders him, which further secures the timeline and ensures Summer will live.

Although everything seemingly ends well for the Time Cut characters, altering the past and saving her sister from dying wipes off Lucy’s existence. Since her parents only decided to have her after Lucy died, Lucy’s survival suggests she was never born in the third timeline. This creates a paradox where her existence becomes a complete impossibility. If Lucy was never born in the first place, how could she have traveled to the past to save Summer in Time Cut?

A teenage girl goes back in time to the early 2000s to save her sister from a dangerous killer.

Director

Hannah Macpherson

Release Date

October 30, 2024

Writers

Michael Kennedy , Hannah Macpherson

Cast

Madison Bailey , Megan Best , Michael Shanks , Antonia Gentry , Griffin Gluck

Character(s)

Lucy Field , Emmy Golden , Gil

Runtime

95 Minutes

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