After it seemed like everything was hunky-dory in the Playing Gracie Darling finale, the hit streaming drama introduced one last twist having to do with the identity of one Ivy Moon. Ivy, played by Coco Jack Gillies, appears several times in the Australian TV series, but is most notable in Episode 6 (also known as the finale).
The 2025 crime drama is now streaming on Netflix in the U.S., following its release on Paramount+ in August. The series follows a psychologist, Joni Gray, who harbors the guilt of her friend's disappearance back when she was 14 during a seance gone awry.
The series kicks off as Joni is drawn back to her sleepy hometown after another person goes missing. She then begins to unravel as decades of trauma bubble back up to the surface, and the town around her looks into what exactly happened to both Joni's old friend and this second missing girl.
All six episodes of Playing Gracie Darling are now available as part of the U.S. Netflix catalog (read more about the biggest series coming to Netflix in December here).
Who Is Ivy In Playing Gracie Darling?
Coco Jack Gillies' Ivy Moon is first introduced during Playing Gracie Darling Episode 1. She appears in a psychiatric ward that Joni visits in the show's premiere.
In Episode 1, Joni (played by White Lotus star Morgana O'Reilly) chats with Ivy while she is in custody, with the troubled youth attempting to stab herself and Joni. Joni helps to stop her, 'saving' the young girl's life in the process and giving herself a sense that maybe she has lightened her load of guilt just a bit.
This moment sticks with Joni, as she continually thinks back to Ivy, hoping that the teen can hopefully get back on track. Ivy almost becomes a symbol of Joni's guilt for what happened to her missing friend, Gracie Darling, who disappeared during a seance gone wrong in their youth. It is implied that if Ivy will be okay, so too will Joni.
The run of the show then happens, with Joni uncovering the secrets behind the missing girls. It turns out that Gracie and her family were harboring a dark secret of their own, and when the girls got too close to that secret, they were taken off the board entirely.
With all that laid to rest, Ivy appears yet again. This time, she shows up in Joni's garden. As Joni walks out into her backyard for a moment of reprieve during the show's finale, she sees the troubled teen once again sitting there in front of her. Joni is curious about the young girl's sudden appearance. She asks herself, "What happened?" "How did she get here?" "Did she escape from the ward where she was supposed to be getting treatment?"
As Joni goes to talk to Ivy further, the girl mysteriously disappears. She then calls one of her colleagues, Liam. Liam tells her that they have actually been trying to get in touch with Joni for some time. It turns out, Ivy had taken her life.
Up to that point, Joni's visions had been attributed to the trauma brought on by the story of Gracie's tragedy resurfacing in her life, but this appearance by Ivy introduces a level of uncertainty into that equation.
Everything supernatural in the show, leading up to the finale, had been disproved. Still, this new tease seems to indicate that Joni's visions could be something more, and she may genuinely be seeing specters. She may actually be seeing ghosts, or could potentially be psychic on some level.
The series leaves Joni here. Audiences are left to wonder if the spiritual realm has touched this character, or if this final vision was simply a manifestation of her trauma. The last thing fans see in the show is the shack from which Gracie went missing. This once again emphasizes that there may be something more sinister at play within the derelict wooden structure, or if it is just her mind playing tricks on her.
With no second season for the streaming drama announced to this point, it is unclear if fans will ever truly get answers to why Ivy appeared that day in Joni's backyard. However, if the show is a big enough success on Netflix, those in charge will almost surely have to give a second season another look.
