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● Movie Guide · Last updated May 18, 2026

The Hate U Give: Plot, Cast, Ending & Where to Watch

2018 · United States of America · Crime, Drama · 2h 13m · English

The Hate U Give is a 2018 United States of America crime film directed by George Tillman Jr.. This guide covers the plot, full cast, an overview of the ending, where to watch, and similar films you might want next.

Read Ending Explained → Movies Like The Hate U Give Where to Watch
CrimeDramaRecommended
Original Title
The Hate U Give
Director
George Tillman Jr.
Writers
Audrey Wells
Country
United States of America
Runtime
2h 13m
Release
Oct 19, 2018
§ 01 Plot · 6 min read

The Hate U Give Plot Summary

The Hate U Give is a 2017 young adult novel by Angie Thomas. It is Thomas's debut novel, expanded from a short story she wrote in college in reaction to the police shooting of Oscar Grant. The book is narrated by Starr Carter, a 16-year-old African-American girl from a poor neighborhood who attends an elite private school in a predominantly white, affluent part of the city. Starr becomes entangled in a national news story after she witnesses a white police officer shoot and kill her childhood friend, Khalil. She speaks up about the shooting in increasingly public ways, and social tensions culminate in a riot after a grand jury decides not to indict the police officer for the shooting.

● Quick takeaway

The Hate U Give (2018) is a United States of America crime film, directed by George Tillman Jr., running 133 minutes. Raised in a poverty-stricken slum, a 16-year-old girl named Starr now attends a suburban prep school. After she witnesses a police officer shoot her unarmed best friend, she's torn between her two very different worlds as she tries to speak her truth. Stars Amandla Stenberg and Regina Hall. Critical reception: IMDb 7.5/10, Rotten Tomatoes 97%, Metacritic 81/100. Tagline: "Two worlds. One voice. No going back.." This guide covers the plot, full cast, ending, and where to watch.

§ 02 Cast · 6 roles

Cast and Characters

Amandla Stenberg headshot
Amandla Stenberg
as Starr Carter
Stenberg, who came to wider attention as Rue in The Hunger Games, anchors every scene of the film — Starr is the narrator, the witness, the daughter, the schoolmate, and the person whose decision the entire third act is waiting on. The performance has to register code-switching as a physical act, not just an accent, and Stenberg's calibration between the Garden Heights Starr and the Williamson Starr is the load-bearing piece of acting that the adaptation rests on.
Regina Hall headshot
Regina Hall
as Lisa Carter
Hall plays Starr's mother Lisa with a focused, conflicted intelligence — a nurse who has earned the family a step up and now has to decide whether to leave Garden Heights for safer ground or stay and let her daughter's public testimony unfold from inside the neighbourhood. The performance gives the film its strongest adult anchor, and the kitchen-table scenes between Lisa, Maverick, and Starr are the dramatic centre of the middle act.
Russell Hornsby headshot
Russell Hornsby
as Maverick Carter
Hornsby's Maverick is the film's living link to the Black Panther Party — a former gang member turned grocery-store owner who lectures his children on the Ten-Point Program over breakfast and whose careful conversation about police stops opens the film. The performance plays the load of being a Black father preparing his daughter for a country he cannot guarantee her safety in, and Hornsby pitches it without sermonising.
KJ Apa headshot
KJ Apa
as Chris Bryant
Apa, then early in his Riverdale run, plays Starr's white private-school boyfriend Chris as a decent kid whose decency is in constant collision with how little he actually understands about the world Starr leaves behind every morning. The performance is intentionally low-key, which is the point: Chris is not malicious, he is unfinished, and the film uses him as the test case for the costs of trying to date across this particular American line.
Common headshot
Common
as Uncle Carlos
Common takes the role of Uncle Carlos, Starr's mother's brother and a serving police officer, and gives the film its most-tested moral position — the Black uniformed cop who has to explain to his niece, in honest terms, how an officer might have looked at Khalil's car and made the call he made. The scene between Carlos and Starr in the diner is the film's most-discussed dialogue exchange, and Common plays it without making Carlos either villain or apologist.
Anthony Mackie headshot
Anthony Mackie
as King
Mackie plays King, the Garden Heights drug-trade boss whose King Lords organisation Khalil had been working for, and the casting against type — Mackie was already an Avenger by 2018 — sharpens the threat. King's interest in Starr's silence is the third axis of pressure on her, alongside Williamson and the legal process, and Mackie plays him at a register of barely-contained social menace rather than gangster-movie stylisation.
§ 03 · Spoiler Zone · Read with care

Ending Overview

How does The Hate U Give end? Our spoiler-aware breakdown walks through the final act beat by beat — including the choices, motivations, and ambiguous final shot that viewers most often debate.

Read full Ending Explained →
§ 04 Watch · Updated May 18

Where to Watch The Hate U Give

Availability may vary by region and change over time.

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YouTube TV
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Amazon Video
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Google Play Movies
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§ 06

Frequently Asked

What is The Hate U Give about?

Raised in a poverty-stricken slum, a 16-year-old girl named Starr now attends a suburban prep school.

Where can I watch The Hate U Give?

See the Where to Watch section below for the current streaming, rental, and purchase options in your region.