Normal People ending: How did the series change the book’s ending? Star on final scene

Many Normal People fans have already watched the entire 12-episode adaptation of Sally Rooney’s novel since it was released a few weeks ago. However, the series did make some changes to the book, including extending its ending. Here’s what Marianne Sheridan star Daisy Edgar-Jones had to say about the final scene.

How did the Normal People series change the book’s ending?

WARNING: This article contains spoilers from the end of Normal People.

At the end of the BBC Three adaptation of Rooney’s novel, viewers watched as Connell Waldron (Paul Mescal) and Marianne Sheridan (Daisy Edgar-Jones) finally settled into a relationship.

However, this soon became complicated after Connell received an offer to study abroad in New York.

The show then followed Connell as he told Marianne about the creative writing course up until they finally decided to part ways months later.

In the final scene, Marianne told him how he could not miss the opportunity to go but how she wanted to stay behind in Ireland.

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The ending was certainly an emotional one for viewers as the pair did not manage to stay together despite all they had been through.

The final episode shares many similarities to how Rooney’s book ends with much of the same dialogue and the same ultimate ending.

However, there were a few stark differences, including the omission of Connell admitting he had told another college friend about the offer rather than Marianne.

As well as this, Marianne did not find out months earlier but instead told Connell he had to accept it as soon as she learnt of the offer.

In spite of the differences, actor Edgar-Jones spoke to Express.co.uk about how much she loved the “amazing” final scene.

She said: “I think especially the way we finish the series is a really amazing depiction of what real love is.

“Because they really care about one another in a way that is completely selfless, they want each other to be the happiest and the best they can be.”

For the star, this is a really good depiction of the connection between the two characters, which she finds difficult to explain.

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She added: “You know I’ve read the book about a billion times and I still can’t get my head around them 100 percent because I think that what’s really amazing is they really shift and change.

“But I would say that they’re two people that are both incredibly intelligent and have a massively fallen deep inner life and I think that they have a really unique way of communicating with each other that’s very special.”

For her, this is summed up well in another of the final moments of Rooney’s book.

Edgar-Jones explained: “There’s a quote in the final chapter that talks about them kissing on New Year’s and all of their school friends looking at them and just finding them interesting.

“Because they’re two people that for whatever reason just can’t leave each other alone. I think they just have a really special way of connecting.”

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The final scene is not the only moment from Rooney’s novel which was changed in the show.

There were also some new scenes like Connell’s phone call to Marianne after the debs as well as slightly kinder depictions of characters like Marianne’s mother.

However, all in all the show is very faithful to its source material, which producer Emma Norton also revealed was purposeful.

She told Express.co.uk and other media: “I think what Sally and Alice [Birch, co-writer] were really good at doing in the process were finding little moments in the book that sometimes might have just been a sentence, and expanding it out into a full, sometimes very emotional scene.

“In some respects it may seem different to the book, but almost everything in the show has some little origin in the novel.”

Normal People is available to stream now on BBC iPlayer.

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