All the changes from the We Were Liars book versus TV series
We Were Liars, the new Prime Video series from showrunners Julie Plec and Carina Adly Mackenzie that's a juicy mishmash of YA romance, vacation mystery, and Succession-y family drama, also happens to be based on the very popular novel by E. Lockhart. If you're too curious about what was different in the book or how the show handled *that* ending, here's the 411 on the adaptation.
The basic story, characters, and relationships are the same. There will be spoilers ahead, uh, obviously. Starting with the big one because I am no liar! We Were Liars is about a seventeen year-old girl named Cadence Sinclair working through post-traumatic amnesia after a fire she helped set killed her cousin Johnny, her cousin Mirren, and her childhood best friend/boyfriend Gatwick "Gat" Patil. Her amnesia and trauma is represented by the ghosts of those three dead teenagers, who used to call themselves "the Liars" when they spent summers growing up on the Sinclair family's private island called Beachwood.
Every time a living person tries to tell her what happens, she has a panic attack and forgets all over again. The fire occurred after a dramatic summer caused the Liars to become disillusioned with their picture perfect, privileged family. On the show and in the book, we see that fateful summer unfold as Cadence remembers the truth. There are some small changes to the narrative in the adaptation. For example: Mirren's younger brother Taft is simply not in the show! His character is basically combined with Johnny's younger brother William. Here are the bigger changes:
In the book: Grandma Tipper dies between Summer 14 and Summer 15, and the fire happens at the end of Summer 15. We spent time with Cadence at home in Vermont recovering from her physical injuries and recalling sporadic memories. She spends Summer 16 in Europe with her father. Almost two years later, during Summer 17, Cadence returns to the island seeking the truth and reunites with the Liars' ghosts.
In the show: All of the tragic events happened in Summer 16. We never see Cadence's life in Vermont outside of a hair dye montage. Just one year after the accident, Cadence goes back on the island for all of what would have been Summer 17, working with the ghosts of the Liars to figure out what happened.
In the book: Johnny gets more and more distressed, Mirren gets more and more sick, and Gat gets more and more angsty about resuming his relationship with Cadence. The house where they're "staying" gets progressively messier with clutter and dirty dishes.
In the show: The ghosts are the tiniest bit, well, friendlier and there's no mess for Cadence to clean up. I guess that wouldn't make for compelling TV.
In the book: Cadence processes her mental state by telling the reader fairy tales in which she casts her family members and Gat as kings, princesses, princes, fire-breathing dragons and outcast mice.
In the show: There are fairy tales in voiceover, and the Sinclair family Father's Day tradition has some on the nose King Lear vibes... but that's it. Instead, since the show is only partially from Cadence's POV, we do learn a little more about her cousins and aunts. They have interests and love lives that the book doesn't get as into.
In the book: The ground floor caught fire too fast because Cadence, who was in charge of that section, used too much gas and started on the wrong side of the house to ensure a safe exit for everyone. That trapped Gat in the basement and her cousins (and the dogs) upstairs.
In the series: Gat was waiting outside in the boat, and ran into the fire when he didn't see Cadence and her cousins leaving the house as planned. Mirren and Johnny got trapped because they were distracted–Mirren by one of her paintings in her mom's room and Johnny by one last opportunity to smash things–and the smoke rose more quickly than they anticipated. Cadence thinks she threw off the plan by running upstairs to grab her grandmother's black pearl necklace. But since she ran back inside moments after to try and rescue the sleeping dogs they all forgot about (I'll never be over that BTW) what happened is not so much her fault as it is in the book.
In the book: Cadence suspects that her mom, Penny, knows the truth about the fire. But the important thing is that Cadence has resolved to be a better, more considerate person and own her responsibility and her place in her "evil" family.
In the series: Cadence's grandfather, Harris, definitely knows the truth about the fire. He names her as a successor to her family's complicated legacy and urges her to keep the lie he's told the family and the press: that the fire was an accident and she was a hero who tried to save everyone. But she runs away, neither admitting to what really happened or maintaining the fairy. She's still very against the family. Will this be resolved in a potential Season 2? There's always room for more character growth... right? There are some references in the series to things that book readers would only know if they'd read the prequel Family of Liars, like another horrible summer and what happened to the fourth Sinclair sister Rosemary, so fingers crossed!
Stream We Were Liars on Amazon Prime Video now.
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Will There Be a ‘We Were Liars' Season 2?
Season 1 of We Were Liars, based on the E. Lockhart novel of the same name, just wrapped. The YA bestseller was adapted for screen by showrunners Julie Plec and Carina Adly MacKenzie into eight episodes, and the season finale seemed to be setting up more intrigue ahead. So, will there be a season 2? Here's what we know so far. Not yet. The second season just finished airing, and it may take a while for Prime Video to decide to renew. Plec and MacKenzie told The Wrap that they've had 'endless conversations' with the streamer on the topic. 'They are very supportive and just waiting on whatever data it is these algorithmic creators need to have before they write big check, so we're looking forward to the data working in our favor,' Plec said. 'We are, as usual, at the mercy of the robots,' MacKenzie added. While talking to Variety, MacKenzie said, 'The great thing about this show is that the first season has a satisfying, powerful ending. So I want people who generally don't tune in to the first season because they're afraid it's going to get canceled, to know that they're safe to watch this show, and if it doesn't get a second season, you've still got a whole story. But also, Emily wrote three books and we love this world. We love our cast. We'd love the opportunity that exists for more story, so we're hopeful that we'll get to come back and do more. But also, should this be a limited series, I think it's a beautiful story.' The show follows the teen members of the wealthy and elite Sinclair family, Cadence, Johnny, Mirren, and their friend Gat, across two summers. The first summer involves traumatic loss and the second summer sees Cadence dealing with the loss of her siblings and their ghosts' struggles to move on to the other side. Johnny ends the season still earthbound and seemingly tied to his mother, Carrie. That means a second season could center around their relationship and the older Sinclairs. In an interview with The Wrap, Julie Plec shared, 'The best gift that Emily Lockhart gave us as we were sitting down to write We Were Liars was she published Family of Liars, which was a prequel about the Sinclair sisters when they were teenagers. The book opens with Carrie telling the story of a very dark time and a very bad summer to her dead son.' 'We just wanted the audience to know that there's still more story to tell, and we're really looking forward to the opportunity to be able to do it,' she added. It's unclear if the released spirits would return, but season 1 starred Emily Alyn Lind, Esther McGregor, Joseph Zada, Shubham Maheshwari, and Mamie Gummer. This post will be updated.
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All the changes from the We Were Liars book versus TV series
We Were Liars, the new Prime Video series from showrunners Julie Plec and Carina Adly Mackenzie that's a juicy mishmash of YA romance, vacation mystery, and Succession-y family drama, also happens to be based on the very popular novel by E. Lockhart. If you're too curious about what was different in the book or how the show handled *that* ending, here's the 411 on the adaptation. The basic story, characters, and relationships are the same. There will be spoilers ahead, uh, obviously. Starting with the big one because I am no liar! We Were Liars is about a seventeen year-old girl named Cadence Sinclair working through post-traumatic amnesia after a fire she helped set killed her cousin Johnny, her cousin Mirren, and her childhood best friend/boyfriend Gatwick "Gat" Patil. Her amnesia and trauma is represented by the ghosts of those three dead teenagers, who used to call themselves "the Liars" when they spent summers growing up on the Sinclair family's private island called Beachwood. Every time a living person tries to tell her what happens, she has a panic attack and forgets all over again. The fire occurred after a dramatic summer caused the Liars to become disillusioned with their picture perfect, privileged family. On the show and in the book, we see that fateful summer unfold as Cadence remembers the truth. There are some small changes to the narrative in the adaptation. For example: Mirren's younger brother Taft is simply not in the show! His character is basically combined with Johnny's younger brother William. Here are the bigger changes: In the book: Grandma Tipper dies between Summer 14 and Summer 15, and the fire happens at the end of Summer 15. We spent time with Cadence at home in Vermont recovering from her physical injuries and recalling sporadic memories. She spends Summer 16 in Europe with her father. Almost two years later, during Summer 17, Cadence returns to the island seeking the truth and reunites with the Liars' ghosts. In the show: All of the tragic events happened in Summer 16. We never see Cadence's life in Vermont outside of a hair dye montage. Just one year after the accident, Cadence goes back on the island for all of what would have been Summer 17, working with the ghosts of the Liars to figure out what happened. In the book: Johnny gets more and more distressed, Mirren gets more and more sick, and Gat gets more and more angsty about resuming his relationship with Cadence. The house where they're "staying" gets progressively messier with clutter and dirty dishes. In the show: The ghosts are the tiniest bit, well, friendlier and there's no mess for Cadence to clean up. I guess that wouldn't make for compelling TV. In the book: Cadence processes her mental state by telling the reader fairy tales in which she casts her family members and Gat as kings, princesses, princes, fire-breathing dragons and outcast mice. In the show: There are fairy tales in voiceover, and the Sinclair family Father's Day tradition has some on the nose King Lear vibes... but that's it. Instead, since the show is only partially from Cadence's POV, we do learn a little more about her cousins and aunts. They have interests and love lives that the book doesn't get as into. In the book: The ground floor caught fire too fast because Cadence, who was in charge of that section, used too much gas and started on the wrong side of the house to ensure a safe exit for everyone. That trapped Gat in the basement and her cousins (and the dogs) upstairs. In the series: Gat was waiting outside in the boat, and ran into the fire when he didn't see Cadence and her cousins leaving the house as planned. Mirren and Johnny got trapped because they were distracted–Mirren by one of her paintings in her mom's room and Johnny by one last opportunity to smash things–and the smoke rose more quickly than they anticipated. Cadence thinks she threw off the plan by running upstairs to grab her grandmother's black pearl necklace. But since she ran back inside moments after to try and rescue the sleeping dogs they all forgot about (I'll never be over that BTW) what happened is not so much her fault as it is in the book. In the book: Cadence suspects that her mom, Penny, knows the truth about the fire. But the important thing is that Cadence has resolved to be a better, more considerate person and own her responsibility and her place in her "evil" family. In the series: Cadence's grandfather, Harris, definitely knows the truth about the fire. He names her as a successor to her family's complicated legacy and urges her to keep the lie he's told the family and the press: that the fire was an accident and she was a hero who tried to save everyone. But she runs away, neither admitting to what really happened or maintaining the fairy. She's still very against the family. Will this be resolved in a potential Season 2? There's always room for more character growth... right? There are some references in the series to things that book readers would only know if they'd read the prequel Family of Liars, like another horrible summer and what happened to the fourth Sinclair sister Rosemary, so fingers crossed! Stream We Were Liars on Amazon Prime Video now.
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The most popular show on Prime Video, We Were Liars, is bringing fans to tears with it's devastating and shocking finale. Starring Emily Alyn Lind, Mamie Gummer, Caitlin FitzGerald, Candice King, David Morse, Shubham Maheshwari, Esther McGregor, Joseph Zada and Rahul Kohli, the captivating drama has audiences hooked. We Were Liars really leans into its most emotional moments, with the cast really taking on every twist, turn and wounding moment with conviction. One of those moments that really stands out is between Mirren (Esther McGregor) and her mother Bess (Candice King), after Bess finds out her daughter saw her affair with "Salty Dan," a harbour service worker, and shared that information with The Liars. Specifically, Bess is angry her sister Penny (Caitlin Fitzgerald) has that information and is holding it over her head, preventing her from getting more money from her father to reconcile her debt. In Episode 5 Bess confronts Mirren, destroying all of Mirren's beautiful art. 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I think Mirren tries to keep it together quite a lot, especially towards her mother. So that was something really interesting ... and I think it's one of her bravest moments in the series. So it's lovely to find that, but really heartbreaking too." By the time we get to the last episode, we see a particularly close bond between Mirren and her cousin Cadence (Emily Alyn Lind), who's spent the season trying to figure out the circumstances of her injury during the summer of her 16th birthday. The conversation in Episode 8 starts with Mirren telling Cadence she wishes she had been kinder to The Littles, but Cadence says Mirren shouldn't have regret, she should be "light as air." Then Mirren starts talking about how she always wanted to be "excellent" at everything, that both she, and her mother, never let themselves me "messy." "I don't think anyone really saw me," Mirren says to Cadence as she starts sobbing. "And now no one ever will." "No, look at me," Cadence says in response. "The Liars saw you Mirren. And I'll see you for the rest of my life." "That moment, that's a difficult one," McGregor said. "It was interesting because that one was I think in the last week of us filming, I think we had like a few days left, so that goodbye felt very real and present." "She was such a guiding light for me, quite motherly towards me, which is really what I needed. Like even if I had my stomach ache, she would set me up with some saltine crackers and my medication. Emily's a very thoughtful person that's very attentive, and I think that definitely blended into our characters and our togetherness." But one satisfying part of the We Were Liars Season 1 ending is that Ed (Rahul Kohli) gets back together with Carrie (Mamie Gummer), after previously leaving following Ed's failed proposal. While Ed and Gat's (Shubham Maheshwari) bond as outsiders to the Sinclairs was compelling to watch, it was also interesting to see how Ed is so important to Carrie's kids, Johnny (Joseph Zada) and Will (Brady Droulis), but is still on the outside of the larger Sinclair family. "That dynamic, it's super relatable," Kohli said. "It's not too dissimilar to my current living circumstances." "I am obviously British born and I live in America, I've been there for 10 years, and some of the people I call my family I still, even at Thanksgiving or across the table, still don't feel 100 per cent a part of that. It's just something that comes with being a fish out of water." But in order for We Were Liars to bring the audience through the peaks and valleys in this thrilling story, the show needed directors who could take on the task. In this case, all five directors, Nzingha Stewart, Julie Plec, Tara Miele, So Yong Kim and Erica Dunton, brilliantly crafted their elements of this intertwining story. "[Nzingha Stewart], who did the very first episode, she set the tone," David Morse, who plays Sinclair family patriarch Harris, said. "She's really excellent with actors and taking time with us as we're discovering things. Especially in that first episode you feel so naked the first time you open your mouth as a character on that first day, and you'd like to know there's somebody there who's there to protect you and help you a little bit. And Nzingha was great with that. ... Towards the end, we had a really terrific director for those really challenging last two episodes. ... And I think we had the right directors at the right time."
