In the scene before the credits,
The Normandy crash lands on a jungle planet and Joker, Liara and Garrus walked off the ship.
Which doesn't make any sense, as the squad I took for the final part
was Liara and James. The Reaper laser destroyed everyone on the ground including my squad (Shepard barely made it), how did Liara end up not only alive but went from Earth to the Normandy? I did not pick EDI for my squad in the end, but she was not on the crashed Normandy in the end either. Why?
The ending was
picking to control the Reapers
What determines the characters in that scene?
Best Answer
The first thing that drives who comes out of the Normandy is your EMS. If it is too low, nobody comes out of the wreckage.
Joker always comes out first if he survives.
Next comes your romance option if they are still alive and part of the crew. My Shep picked Liara, and she came out after Joker and EDI. I've ran different endings multiple times, and Liara is always the one to come out after Jocker and EDI. In youtube clips of the ending I've seen, this person is almost always a possible romance option for the sex of the Shepard in the ending. I've seen clips with Traynor and Cortez, so it's not limited to squad members.
If three people haven't come out, then this is when the "closest too" crew members appear. I think it's always a squad member. It ran through the destroy ending twice, and had the same character in this slot both times. I don't think it is random. It could be based off of who you talked to the most or used the most on missions. If I had to pick one it would be the later. I got Javic who I did use frequently as a party member and was in my party during the final mission.
Who you take on the final mission doesn't effect who exits the Normandy. I guess they just leave you for dead.