Behind Justin Baldoni’s controversial change to Ryle’s original ending in It Ends With Us

The problematic nature of It Ends With Us doesn’t just start with its storyline, but really flourished in its film adaptation: And that’s before we even bring up the cast drama. If you’ve actually seen the film, you might feel quite satisfied with the ending (spoilers ahead) that sees a blossoming relationship between Lily Bloom and Atlas Corrigan. However, the ending in Colleen Hoover’s original version of It Ends With Us wasn’t as straightforward as it seemed. Justin Baldoni has spoken out about his subtle yet important change to the book’s ending, and why he chose to do so.

How was the film ending different from the book?

If you cast your minds back to 2016 when you first met Lily, Atlas and Ryle, you may remember how the book ended: With Ryle and Lily co-parenting baby Emerson. The epilogue is a small scene where Ryle drops off Lily outside her store, and they seem to be a somewhat civil family, but something still feels understandably off. But that all changes when she sees Atlas in a crowd, and leaves her family behind to run to him. He tells her: “I feel like my life is good enough for you now. So whenever you’re ready…”

via YouTube

However, the film has a very different closing. The final scene shows Lily and Emerson walking through a market and bumping into Atlas. Not a lot is said, but Lily assures Atlas that “it’s just me and my girl” now, and that Ryle is no longer in the picture at all. The two then share a sweet moment and it’s heavily implied that they’ll begin dating now.

Why is this change so important?

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This change was a deliberate directorial decision from Justin Baldoni which erases Ryle’s redemption arc – rightly so if I may add. In the novel, it’s never implied that Ryle is getting any kind of help for his problems like he said he would, so why would we believe he’s really going to change?

Baldoni explained in an interview with The Wrap that he didn’t see how Ryle could remain in Lily’s life if you’re looking in realistic terms. He said: “The majority of men go back to being abusers, and that’s the fact. It didn’t feel right to tell a story about a man who was a minority in that, because that wouldn’t be honouring the original intention of why we were trying to tell the story. The best ending for Ryle was to look at his wife and kid, and the life that he could have had, the life that he blew up, and to walk out the door and for us not to see him again.” Very well said.

via YouTube

Although, he did add that there was an original script which matched up to the book’s version of It Ends With Us with the two co-parenting Emerson in a bittersweet ending, but Baldoni and the domestic abuse support foundation No More whom he worked closely with on the film, agreed that the scene wouldn’t make sense to viewers. Baldoni said that “Too much had to be done in such a short window to explain how Ryle and Lily could possibly be co-parenting. I don’t want to  open up a can of worms and have a conversation about, you know, should a man like Ryle be allowed to co-parent? You know, what’s an acceptable amount of work that someone has to do in that situation? It was just way too much.” It seems like Baldoni is set on making sure the moral compass of the film is pretty bulletproof.

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