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Timeline

Following (2024) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

Release, runtime and language
2024 · 103 mins · Korean
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Directed by
Kim Se-hwi
Starring
Lee El, Byun Yo-han, Shin Hye-sun, Lee Se-rang, Jang Seong-beom, Cho Yu-jin

A realtor named Jung-tae has a peculiar hobby: secretly entering strangers' homes to observe their lives. He becomes intrigued by So-ra, an Instagram star who leaves her house key at his agency. Jung-tae begins visiting her home, but discovers a shocking scene – So-ra’s dead body. Unable to report the discovery, he returns later to find the body missing. Soon, Jung-tae is implicated as a suspect when he receives a threatening note and evidence points to his guilt. He must race to uncover the real killer and clear his name.

On this page (6)
  1. 1 Where to watch
  2. 2 Events in order (12)
  3. 3 Timeline questions answered
  4. 4 Movie threads
  5. 5 Categories
  6. 6 Every angle
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12 events in order · contains spoilers

Following Timeline: Events in Chronological Order

Every key event of Following (2024) in order, scene by scene, with when and where it takes place. Use it to untangle flashbacks, time jumps and parallel storylines, to refresh your memory before the sequel or to find the exact scene you are thinking of.

  1. A writer follows strangers through London

    A struggling, unemployed writer, known as The Young Man, begins following strangers around the streets of London in search of inspiration for his first novel. He imposes strict rules about who to follow and for how long, but those rules falter when he spots a well-groomed man in a dark suit.

    When
    daytime
    Where
    London streets
  2. Cobb reveals himself and his burglarious philosophy

    The man in the suit notices he is being followed and confronts him, introducing himself as Cobb. He explains that he is a serial burglar and invites the Young Man to accompany him on robberies. Cobb argues that his true passion is using the shock of robbery to cause victims to reexamine their lives.

    When
    early afternoon
    Where
    London street
  3. The Young Man joins Cobb on burglaries

    Thrilled by Cobb's lifestyle, the Young Man agrees to learn the trade and tag along on burglaries. Cobb guides him and gradually loosens his initial rules, showing him the thrill of the crime.

    When
    soon after
    Where
    various London flats
  4. The Young Man becomes Daniel Lloyd and targets a Blonde

    Under Cobb's direction the Young Man alters his appearance and adopts the name Daniel Lloyd. He begins pursuing a blonde woman whose flat they had burgled and starts a relationship with her.

    When
    after changing appearance
    Where
    London flats
  5. The Blonde's danger: blackmail and the Bald Guy

    The Blonde is the girlfriend of a small-time gangster known as the Bald Guy, who is blackmailing her with incriminating photos. This creates a volatile situation as they plan further burglaries.

    When
    setup for burglary
    Where
    Blonde's flat and Bald Guy's circle
  6. First major burglary: Bald Guy's safe

    On Cobb's instruction, the Young Man breaks into the Bald Guy's flat and reaches his safe. He is confronted by a guard, bludgeons him with a claw hammer, and escapes with money and photos. He later discovers the photos are innocuous modeling shots.

    When
    during the burglary
    Where
    Bald Guy's flat
  7. Return home and learn the photos are innocuous

    Back at his own flat, the Young Man finds that the incriminating photos are harmless modeling shots, undermining the Bald Guy's blackmail plot. He begins to sense Cobb's manipulation and irony.

    When
    shortly after
    Where
    Young Man's flat
  8. Confronting the Blonde and revelation of manipulation

    The Young Man confronts the Blonde about their partnership with Cobb and the manipulation of his actions. She explains that Cobb had recently found a murdered woman's body during a burglary and is using the idea of multiple burglars to deflect suspicion.

    When
    after the confrontation
    Where
    Blonde's flat
  9. The Young Man decides to turn himself in

    Feeling used and under suspicion, the Young Man resolves to surrender to the police and end the cycle of manipulation. He hopes to salvage some semblance of his life.

    When
    immediately after
    Where
    London, near a police station
  10. Blonde reports to Cobb; Cobb reveals his allegiance

    The Blonde reports the turn of events to Cobb, who then finally reveals that he actually works for the Bald Guy. The murder plot is part of a larger plan to entangle both the Blonde and the Young Man.

    When
    after the report
    Where
    Cobb's hideout
  11. Cobb executes the plan: kills the Blonde

    Cobb bludgeons the Blonde to death with the same claw hammer and leaves the scene. The murder is framed to appear connected to the Young Man.

    When
    immediately after
    Where
    Blonde's flat
  12. Police implicate the Young Man; Cobb vanishes

    Police investigate the Young Man's story and find the Blonde murdered with the hammer bearing his fingerprints. The Young Man is implicated in the crime while Cobb disappears into the crowd.

    When
    shortly after
    Where
    crime scene and police scene

Last updated: October 01, 2025 at 10:22

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Timeline questions answered

Following Timeline Explained: Your Questions Answered

When does it happen, and why in that order? The questions people ask about the chronology of Following (2024): time jumps, flashbacks, cause and effect between scenes and the correct order of events, each answered with spoilers.

Q1

Why does Cobb reveal himself to The Young Man instead of avoiding him?

Cobb deliberately reveals himself because he sees potential in The Young Man as an apprentice. Cobb explains that his true passion is using burglary to shock victims into reassessing their lives, and he views The Young Man's curiosity as an opportunity to recruit him into his criminal world.

Foreshadowing: Earlier, The Young Man admits he is searching for material for his first novel, showing his vulnerability to unconventional inspiration.

  • cobb
  • burglar
  • mentor
  • reveal
  • recruitment
Q2

Why does The Young Man adopt the identity Daniel Lloyd?

Under Cobb's direction, The Young Man transforms his appearance and adopts the name Daniel Lloyd as part of his criminal apprenticeship. This new identity represents his commitment to the burglar's lifestyle and allows him to pursue relationships with targets, specifically the Blonde, with a renewed sense of purpose and style.

Foreshadowing: Cobb teaches him that burgling someone creates intimacy, and The Young Man wants to experience this firsthand.

  • daniel lloyd
  • identity
  • transformation
  • adoption
Q3

Why are the photos from the Bald Guy's safe actually harmless modeling shots?

The photos are not the incriminating evidence The Young Man expected. Instead, they are innocuous modeling shots that completely undermine the Bald Guy's blackmail plot against The Blonde. This reveals that the entire blackmail situation was built on false premises or that Cobb manipulated what was placed in the safe.

Foreshadowing: Cobb's instruction to target the safe suggests he knew exactly what would be found there.

  • photos
  • modeling shots
  • bald guy
  • blackmail
  • harmless
Q4

Why does The Blonde reveal Cobb's manipulation to The Young Man?

The Blonde reveals the manipulation because she is caught between danger and desire. She explains that Cobb had discovered a murdered woman's body during a burglary and is using the idea of multiple burglars to deflect suspicion away from himself. She likely hopes to turn The Young Man against Cobb or protect herself from being further used.

Foreshadowing: The Blonde has been living under the Bald Guy's threat of blackmail, making her desperate.

  • blonde
  • confession
  • cobb
  • manipulation
  • murdered woman
Q5

Why does Cobb kill The Blonde?

Cobb kills The Blonde because she has become a liability after confessing to The Young Man about the scheme. Since Cobb works for the Bald Guy and is orchestrating a larger plan to entangle both The Blonde and The Young Man, eliminating her removes the risk of her testifying or revealing more. He uses the same claw hammer from the earlier burglary to frame The Young Man.

Foreshadowing: Cobb warned that The Young Man would eventually become expendable, showing his willingness to sacrifice anyone in his plan.

  • cobb
  • blonde
  • murder
  • hammer
  • frame-up
Q6

How does Cobb frame The Young Man for The Blonde's murder?

Cobb bludgeons The Blonde to death with the same claw hammer that The Young Man used earlier to kill the guard at the Bald Guy's flat. By leaving the murder weapon at the scene with The Young Man's fingerprints, Cobb ensures the police have physical evidence linking him to the crime. The timing of The Young Man's decision to turn himself in makes him the obvious suspect.

Foreshadowing: Cobb's knowledge of the hammer and its previous use reveals he planned this outcome from the start.

  • frame
  • murder
  • hammer
  • fingerprints
  • evidence
Q7

Why does The Young Man decide to turn himself in to the police?

The Young Man decides to surrender because he feels used and realizes he is under suspicion. After learning about Cobb's manipulation and the larger scheme, he hopes that voluntarily coming forward might salvage some semblance of his life rather than continuing to be dragged deeper into the criminal web.

Foreshadowing: His earlier rule-following as a writer suggests he still values doing the right thing.

  • surrender
  • police
  • guilt
  • conscience
Q8

What is Cobb's true motivation in orchestrating the entire scheme?

Cobb works for the Bald Guy and orchestrates the entire scheme to use The Young Man as a pawn in a larger ruse. By guiding The Young Man through burglaries and manipulations, Cobb creates a trail of crimes that ultimately frames both The Young Man and The Blonde, protecting the Bald Guy's interests while eliminating witnesses to his own crimes.

Foreshadowing: Cobb always maintains control over which flats they burgle and what information gets revealed.

  • cobb
  • motivation
  • scheme
  • bald guy
  • manipulation
Q9

Why does The Young Man kill the guard during the burglary?

The Young Man bludgeons the guard with a claw hammer because he is interrupted during the burglary and panics. Rather than being caught, he attacks the guard to make his escape. This violent act marks a turning point where his experiments with burglary transition from observation to actual harm, and the weapon later becomes crucial evidence used against him.

Foreshadowing: Cobb has been teaching him to use whatever is available to control situations.

  • guard
  • hammer
  • kill
  • burglary
  • panic
Q10

What happens to Cobb at the end of the film?

Cobb simply vanishes into the crowd after orchestrating The Blonde's murder and framing The Young Man. He escapes justice completely while The Young Man is left as the prime suspect. This underscores the film's bleak theme about the fragility of trust and how easily the mastermind behind manipulation can disappear.

Foreshadowing: Cobb has always been portrayed as someone who moves through spaces unseen, making his escape fitting.

  • cobb
  • escape
  • vanish
  • disappear
  • freedom
Q11

Why is The Blonde caught between The Bald Guy and her relationship with The Young Man?

The Blonde is being blackmailed by the Bald Guy with incriminating photos, creating a volatile situation where she cannot easily leave him. She becomes involved with The Young Man while also working with Cobb, creating a dangerous triple cross where she hopes to escape her situation but becomes trapped in the larger conspiracy instead.

Foreshadowing: The Bald Guy's violent past and storage of secrets in the same flat where blackmail happens shows his dangerous nature.

  • blonde
  • bald guy
  • blackmail
  • trap
  • relationship

Movie threads

More Movies Like Following, by Mood & Story

Curated lists built around what makes Following tick: the same mood, the same kind of story or the same emotional payoff. Each list explains why these movies belong together.

Thrillers about being framed like in Following

An ordinary person is meticulously framed for a crime, forcing them to uncover a hidden conspiracy. If you enjoyed the high-stakes panic of being set up in Following, you'll find similar tension in these movies. This thread gathers gripping thrillers where an ordinary person is implicated in a crime they didn't commit, forcing them to race against time to clear their name and expose the real culprit.

  • suspenseful
  • paranoid
  • anxious
  • claustrophobic
  • methodical
  • unsettling
  • Tone: dark, paranoid
  • Pacing: steady, methodical
Why these movies?

The story pattern: The narrative follows a clear downward spiral: an initial act of curiosity or misfortune leads to the discovery of a crime, immediately followed by the protagonist being framed. The plot then becomes a tense cat-and-mouse game as they investigate while being pursued by both the law and the shadowy forces responsible, revealing a web of deception far larger than they imagined.

Why they belong together: These movies are grouped by their shared core conflict—the terror of being wrongfully accused. They create a pervasive sense of paranoia and isolation, focusing on a protagonist's desperate fight for survival against an invisible enemy. The experience is defined by high tension, moral desperation, and a methodical pacing that tightens the noose around the hero.

Slow burn psychological thrillers like Following

Stories where quiet tension methodically builds into inescapable psychological horror. For viewers who appreciated the methodical, building dread in Following, this collection highlights similar movies. These are character-driven thrillers where tension accumulates steadily, focusing on psychological manipulation and a growing sense of paranoia that culminates in a devastatingly bleak realization for the protagonist.

  • methodical
  • unsettling
  • claustrophobic
  • grim
  • suspenseful
  • psychological
  • Tone: dark, unsettling, grim
  • Pacing: steady, slow burn
Why these movies?

The story pattern: The narrative unfolds with deliberate, steady pacing, allowing unease to fester and grow. The protagonist, often isolated or morally compromised, finds themselves trapped in a situation that gradually tightens around them. The conflict is primarily psychological, emphasizing the erosion of sanity and trust, and typically resolves not with a triumphant escape, but with a sobering and grim acceptance of a horrific new reality.

Why they belong together: These films are united by their shared atmospheric approach to tension. They prioritize mood over action, using a steady pace to immerse the viewer in the protagonist's deteriorating mental state. The experience is defined by a heavy emotional weight, a dark tone, and a focus on the psychological fallout of deception and moral ambiguity.

Categories

Movie Lists Featuring Following

Following appears in these hand-built movie categories. Each one groups movies by a specific mood, theme or story type, with their plot summaries and endings explained.

View all movie categories

Every angle

Following (2024) Explained: Plot, Ending, Timeline & Characters

Everything about Following in one place: what happens in the plot summary, the timeline in chronological order, the characters and meaning, the ending explained and a spoiler-free summary. What's After the Movie adds the cast, box office and post-credit scenes.

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