<P> Hoyt gives Strickland an ultimatum to recover the creature within 36 hours . Meanwhile, Hoffstetler is told by his handlers that he will be extracted in two days . As the planned release date approaches, the creature's health starts deteriorating . As Hoffstetler leaves to rendezvous with his handlers, Strickland tails him . Hoffstetler is shot by one of his handlers, but Strickland shoots the handlers dead, and then tortures Hoffstetler for information . Hoffstetler implicates Elisa and Zelda before he dies from his wounds . Strickland then threatens Zelda in her home, causing her terrified husband to reveal that Elisa had been keeping the creature . Strickland searches Elisa's apartment and finds a calendar note revealing where she is taking the creature . </P> <P> At the canal Elisa and Giles bid farewell to the creature, but Strickland arrives and attacks them all . Strickland knocks Giles down and shoots the creature and Elisa, who both appear to die . However, the creature heals himself and slashes Strickland's throat . As police arrive on the scene with Zelda, the creature takes Elisa and jumps into the canal, where deep under water he heals her and transforms her neck scars into gills . In a closing narration, Giles expresses his belief that Elisa lived' happily ever after' with the creature . </P> <Ul> <Li> Sally Hawkins as Elisa Esposito </Li> <Li> Michael Shannon as Colonel Richard Strickland </Li> <Li> Richard Jenkins as Giles </Li> <Li> Octavia Spencer as Zelda Delilah Fuller </Li> <Li> Michael Stuhlbarg as Dr. Robert Hoffstetler / Dimitri Antonovich Mosenkov </Li> <Li> Doug Jones as Amphibian Man / The Asset </Li> <Li> David Hewlett as Fleming </Li> <Li> Nick Searcy as General Frank Hoyt </Li> <Li> Lauren Lee Smith as Elaine Strickland </Li> <Li> Morgan Kelly as the Pie Guy </Li> </Ul> <Li> Sally Hawkins as Elisa Esposito </Li>

Who plays the creature in the shape of water