Season 3 'Only Murders in the Building' Ending Explained — Who Killed Ben Glenroy?

Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers for Season 3 of Only Murders in the Building.

The Gist:

• Ben Glenroy nearly died after ingesting rat poisoning Donna sprinkled on his opening night act-themed cookie.
• Donna wasn't trying to kill Ben, but instead, wanted to make him sick so he couldn't harm the play's reputation more.
• Ben's death seemed to be more of an accident than a murder attempt.

At the end of Season 2 of Hulu's Only Murders in the Building, we watched Ben Glenroy (Paul Rudd) collapse to his death — or did we? It all happened within seconds of the opening act of Oliver’s (Martin Short) Broadway show, leaving us in utter shock. Although Oliver was able to redeem his career without his leading man, the burning question remains: Who killed Ben? We finally have the answer!

At the end of Season 3 of OMITB, we learn Ben was poisoned at the end of Season 2, though his character makes an astounding (and kind of scary) return during Oliver’s afterparty for his play Death Rattle. After bursting through the door, Ben excitedly asks the crowd “Who farted?” He proceeds to yell “Momma’s back, b---hes! That’s right, I’m alive!”

But, by the end of the episode, a deceased Ben is falling through the ceiling of an Arconia elevator, but not before several drops of his blood grace the top of Charles’s (Steve Martin) hat and face. Ben had been pushed down the elevator shaft. But who did it? We now know.

Considering the show’s name and past reputation, it was only natural to assume Ben was murdered. And now we know who committed the crime and why they did it. But, before we identify the murderer, let's take a quick walk down suspect lane.

Let’s start with Meryl Streep's character, Loretta Durkin. While she was initially excited to meet Ben during the first read-through of the script, that died down after he … well … died and then re-emerged from the afterlife.

After making his grand entrance at the party, Ben addresses certain members of the cast, including Loretta. Without wasting any time, Ben blatantly calls her a snake. “CoBro knows a fellow snake when he sees one,” Ben snaps. He then proceeds to hiss in her face.

Soon after, Loretta abruptly leaves the party but not before saying to Mabel (Selena Gomez), “Ben may be back, but it doesn’t change the fact that he’s a f--king a--hole.” While we presumed Meryl’s character was no fan of Ben's, the scrap book revealed in Episode 5 helped us piece together that Loretta is Dickie's biological mother. And it was the way Ben treated Dickie (Jeremy Shamos) that conjured up the negative feelings Loretta developed toward Ben.

Needless to say, Loretta didn't kill Ben.

If we think back to the first day of the script read-through, Howard (Michael Cyril Creighton) made it a point to interrupt Oliver before he could formally address his cast. “We thank you for your attention,” Howard announces in a pleasant tone. He continues, “Brief anecdote, I remember when I auditioned for Mr. Oliver Putnam for this very play.” Howard then turns to Oliver and says, “Do you remember what you said to me?” Oliver replies, “I sure do, I said how about you be my assistant instead.”

Distastefully, Howard finishes off his brief spiel with “That’s right, word for word.” Now, although Howard may have been a bit disappointed over not being cast in Oliver's play, it's becoming clearer that he doesn't have it in him to kill Ben.

While Howard did confess to killing Ben in Episode 6, he wasn't actually saying he performed the heinous act. Instead, he suggested that him not sweeping the floor before the big day led to Gideon's ghost reemerging and taking Ben's life.

Would it be an interesting twist to introduce paranormal activity into the show? Sure, but that's not how Season 3 played out.

Kimber (Ashley Park) is another person we thought may have been involved in Ben's death considering there was something going on between the two. However, she later cleared the air and revealed she was only interested in having Ben endorse her anti-aging serum, which he later backed out from doing.

After untangling her complicated relationship with the actor, we learn that she sold her hankie on eBay and wasn't in Ben’s dressing room before the play.

Jonathan (Jason Veasey), Ben's understudy, was another who scored a place on our imaginative murder board. Now that we know he was only seeking anxiety medicine from Ben's doctor, he became less of a suspect and more of just an anxious actor looking to cope with opening night jitters.

What about Tobert (Jesse Williams)? The saying goes, keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Although Tobert got awfully close to Mabel, it turns out he was interested in forming a romantic relationship with Mabel (and joining her podcast).

There was also a moment where we thought Joy (Andrea Martin), Charles’s former girlfriend, was a person of interest. That came after we discovered it was her lipstick that was used to transcribe the words “F--KING PIG” on Ben's mirror.

And let’s not forget the eerie comment she made to Charles after introducing him to a tactic that would help him memorize his patter song.

"You have me now," Joy calmly says to Charles. "I’m gonna look out for you, Charlie, just like I did with Ben Glenroy. He knew if she touched one hair on your gorgeous little head he was gonna have to deal with me."

But, after careful consideration coupled with the conversation Charles had with Sazz (Jane Lynch), Joy isn't another Jan (Amy Ryan). She's just a woman who is (or was, sorry Charles) utterly in love.

The final person who made it onto our official murder suspect board was Dickie. After learning that Dickie was the creator behind CoBro, we assumed he had grown tired of protecting Ben and the lavish lifestyle he essentially helped him build. But, like Loretta and the rest of the crew previously mentioned, Dickie is harmless and didn't kill Ben.

Donna, the producer of the fictitious play Death Rattle, and her son had always been on our radar despite their smaller roles in the show. But, like in most murder mysteries, it's always the person you'd least expect. While Donna admitted she poisoned Ben by sprinkling rat poison on his cookie (which he ate before the show), she wasn't trying to kill him, and she didn't.

Cliff is actually the person behind Ben's murder. Coincidentally, after Ben learned that he had ingested rat poison and concluded it was Donna who had given it to him, he ran into Cliff by the Arconia elevator. The two exchanged words and before we knew it, Cliff was pushing Ben down the exposed elevator shaft in order to protect his mother from being prosecuted for poisoning Ben. But, instead of helping his mother, his actions put them both in handcuffs.

Now that we know who the killer is in Season 3 of OMITB, it's time to start theorizing Season 4's killer. That's right! Hulu has confirmed there will be a Season 4 of OMITB which is quite obvious considering the major cliffhanger we were left with in Season 3 (Sazz is shot through the window of Charles's apartment).

Seasons 1–3 of Only Murders in the Building are now available for streaming on Hulu.