All the differences between season two of You and the book it’s based on

Will isn’t even REAL

4 years ago

You season two is based on the book “Hidden Bodies” by Caroline Kepnes. However, there are a lot of major differences between the You series and the book.

A lot of the characters don’t even exist, different people die and the ending should have been a complete other story. Here are all the biggest differences between the You season two we see on Netflix and how the story pans out in the book, Hidden Bodies.

*This article contains a lot of spoilers for You season two*

Firstly, Candace doesn’t even exist in the book!!

Candace Stone, who is a pretty major character in season two of You, doesn’t even exist in the book Hidden Bodies. Joe has killed her in the first book. It is in fact Amy Adam (Candace’s fake persona in the series) that is real in the book, and she is the reason Joe fled to LA.

Amy visits Joe’s bookstore at the end of the first book and Joe, as he always does, falls in love with her. But she ends up stealing from the store and running of to LA. So Joe, again as Joe does, follows her to LA where he meets Love.

Joe isn’t on the run, so there’s no Will Bettelheim

Because the circumstances for Joe fleeing LA in the book is very different, he doesn’t feel as though he is on the run. So he doesn’t change his name to Will Bettelheim, or lock up the real Will in his glass box.

Love’s character is very different

In the book, Love isn’t an aspiring chef. She’s actually a lot more of a Los Angeles cliche. Love is an actress, who bumps into Joe in Soho House.

In Hidden Bodies it is Joe who murders Delilah, not Love. There’s no twist ending that Love is a serial killer in the book.

Ellie Alves also doesn’t exist

Everyone’s favourite cunning teen is also a character created for the TV show. Ellie Alves, sister of Delilah and Joe’s neighbour, just isn’t a thing in the book.

Ellie’s character is similar to Paco’s in season one on Netflix, who sadly didn’t exist in the book either. She makes Joe seem a little more normal, and makes the viewer see Joe as a good guy – because he cares for children.

The grocery store Anvarin is called something else and Joe doesn’t work there

In You on Netflix, Love and Forty Quinn’s parents own Anvarin grocery store. In Hidden Bodies the store is called The Pantry. In the book Joe isn’t employed there either – he works in a different store in the city, with Calvin.

Forty’s babysitter who he had a relationship with whilst underage is only in the series

Sophia, who is Forty Quinn’s old babysitter who he also had an underage relationship with, is only in the TV series and not in Hidden Bodies. The dark secret Love tells Joe about Forty’s childhood is actually that he killed a puppy.

Milo isn’t a character in the book either

In the book there is no mention of Milo, Love’s dead husband’s best friend. There is a Milo briefly mentioned in the book, but he’s just an old friend of the Quinn siblings.

The crazy LSD episode was made up for the show

If the series was completely based off the book, there would have been no episode where Forty drugs Joe and he has a crazy LSD trip. Which was fun to watch, so I guess it’s a good thing that was written in.

Forty doesn’t get shot in the book

In the last episode of You season two on Netflix, Forty Quinn is holding a gun to Joe’s head as he himself is shot by police officer, Fincher. However in the book, Forty is another of Joe’s victims. Joe takes him out to the desert and drowns him. The book reads: “I can’t let him smother her anymore. I love her too much for that.”

Love finds out about Joe’s crimes, but not that he killed her brother.

Fincher dies in the book

Police officer, come Delilah’s on and off friend with benefits Fincher, is another one of Joe Goldberg’s victims in the book Hidden Bodies. Fincher gets a little too close for Joe’s comfort with cracking everything he’s done, so Joe leads him to Mexico and kills him.

By the end of Hidden Bodies, Joe is in prison

At the end of You season two on Netflix, Joe is living with pregnant Love but also obsessing over his new neighbour – of course.

In the book You season two is based on, Joe finally gets caught for all of his lies and crimes. Dr Nicky gives evidence about who he thinks has framed him for Beck’s murder and the police do some digging. They manage to get the evidence together and Joe is arrested. However, Love has accepted him and Joe thinks her rich family is his get out of jail free card. He says: “I’m one of the rich people now, the untouchables. These fuckers can’t nail me.”

YOU2 is available to stream on Netflix now. For all the latest Netflix news, drops and memes like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook.