Inception ending explained: Michael Caine reveals what really happened at the end

Michael Caine cleared up nearly a decade of confusion surrounding Inception during a London screening of the film.

The 85-year-old actor stood before an eager audience at Somerset House, where the 2010 film was being shown, to explain the film's open-ended ending once and for all.

According to SyFy, he admitted: "When I got the script of Inception, I was a bit puzzled by it, and I said to him [director Christopher Nolan], 'I don't understand where the dream is'."

"I said, 'When is it the dream and when is it reality?' He said, 'Well, when you're in the scene it's reality.' So get that — if I'm in it, it's reality. If I'm not in it, it's a dream."

In the final scene, Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) woke up after the inception of Robert Michael Fischer (Cillian Murphy), who needed to dissolve his dad's company, or so Dom was told by both his boss and Saito (Ken Watanabe), Robert's top competitor.

If the job was done successfully, Saito promised to clear Dom's name and convince American officials he hadn't killed his wife, (played by Marion Cotillard) who committed suicide but framed her husband for her murder. With the charges out of the way, Dom could return home to his two children.

He arrived home and saw his children playing in the garden, as he had done many times in his dreams, so much so that he wondered if it was real. Dom spins his totem — an item people performing inceptions use to distinguish between dreams and reality — and the movie ended with his totem spinning.

Dom earlier revealed in the movie that in reality, his totem — in his case a mini top — eventually toppled over. The screen faded to black before audiences ever found out whether he was living out a real-world moment or a dream.

But now, because Michael Caine appeared in the scene also, we now know it was real after what the actor revealed.

Inception wedding ring totem theory

A number of theories have been floated about Inception, specifically the ending. A popular theory about the film is the wedding ring totem theory.

As one fan noted, Dom Cobb is seen wearing a wedding ring in each scene in which he's dreaming. When he's awake, however, the ring is nowhere to be seen.

In the final scene of the film, the ring isn't on his finger. Some believe this was key evidence to support early theories that he was awake in the sequence.

Director Christopher Nolan never confirmed the wedding ring totem theory, but it does seem to stack up with new information regarding Michael Caine's role in the film and what his presence means.