The End of Watch trend is a few seconds from a 2012 police film that TikTok has picked up twice: first in 2023, when people filmed their own versions of it, and again in 2026, when AI started putting other people in it. Both times it is the same locker room scene. Here is how it got from the film to your feed. Dates and play counts come from the TikTok posts, as of November 4, 2026.
The scene
End of Watch (2012) stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña as two patrol officers. In the scene everyone now knows, one of them stands in front of the navy blue lockers in a white T-shirt and shows his gear to the camera, piece by piece: a pistol held sideways to the lens, a flashlight switched on straight into it, a folding knife, two magazines, a pair of handcuffs. The camera swings to the shelf in his locker, and then his partner leans into the shot from the left and they both grin.
August 2023: the 6'5 boyfriend
On August 10, 2023, @xylofiles posted the locker scene with one line on the picture: "my boyfriend is 6'5 and can fight". The joke is the gear. You can be as tall as you like; the man in the clip does not need to fight. The post passed 5.8 million plays.
The comments played along. "Yk 6'5 dudes have guns too" and "He's 260 though brother" were among the most liked, next to plenty of people simply naming the film ("end of watch if anyone was interested" has more than 18,000 likes). Others asked for the song; one reply names it as Twirlanta.
The same month: everyone's own gear
Within days, people were filming their own take on the same sound and holding up whatever they carry instead:
- August 16, 2023: a gym version with a lifting belt and resistance bands passed 800,000 plays.
- August 18, 2023: a version from behind a burger counter, with kitchen tools held up to the lens, passed 600,000.
- September 20, 2023: a toy-gun version shot through a fisheye lens passed 190,000.
That is the first life of the trend: real people, their own stuff, the original sound.
2026: the AI versions
The second life started with AI. On August 5, 2026, an AI video put someone else in the locker room with the same gear in the same order; it passed 90,000 plays. Under it, the most liked comment is "I forgot what was the original movie called", and one viewer writes "I want the prompt otherwise just gonna have to re create it".
From October 29 the AI versions came quickly. Cartoon characters showed up in the locker room, then a robot whose caption reads "Fake gun • AI-generated scene • Original scene: End of Watch (2012)", then a young man in a grey tee and a face in skeleton make-up tagged #halloweenmakeup and #faceswap. The comments under them are the same questions: "What ai did you use", "how do u make this".
On November 3, 2026, "end of watch ai template" and "end of watch ai video" appeared in Google's search suggestions in the US.
Why it keeps coming back
- It is a format, not a dance. Nobody has to learn anything. You show things to the camera, one by one.
- The joke works with anyone. A tall boyfriend, a gym regular, a cook, a cartoon: the contrast between the person and the gear is the punchline.
- The partner is built in. Someone leans in at the end, so it is made for tagging a friend.
Is it official?
No. The trend is something people do with a few seconds of the film. Nothing connects it, or this site, to the film's makers, its studio or its cast.
Join in
You can film your own version with whatever you carry. To be in the actual locker scene instead, read how to make an End of Watch AI video, or see what the End of Watch AI template keeps and swaps.
Make my End of Watch AI video