This publish comprises spoilers for We Were Liars.
The lone physique of a girl on a seashore is never a very good signal—simply ask the prosperous characters of Netflix’s The Perfect Couple or HBO’s Big Little Lies. That identical holds for Prime Video’s We Were Liars, an eight-episode TV adaptation of the thriller YA novel revealed in 2014, however popularized by way of BookTok in 2020.
Both E. Lockhart’s guide and the collection from showrunners Julie Plec (The Vampire Diaries) and Carina Adly Mackenzie (Roswell, New Mexico), start with heroine Cadence Sinclair Eastman (Emily Alyn Lind) washed ashore exterior of her household’s secluded property on a personal island off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard. The eldest grandchild of rich media mogul Harris Sinclair (David Morse) and his spouse, Tipper (Wendy Crewson), doesn’t know the way she obtained there, the place her garments went, or why none of her similarly-aged cousins, who name themselves the Liars, can provide her any readability.
The present cuts forwards and backwards between Cadence’s post-traumatic amnesia and the occasions that led as much as it the earlier summer season. Her mom Penny (Caitlin FitzGerald) has forbidden Cadence’s aunts Carrie (Mamie Gummer) and Bess (Candice King) from talking concerning the incident. Also sworn to secrecy are the Liars: Carrie’s son Johnny (Joseph Zada), Bess’ daughter Mirren (Esther McGregor), and Gat (Shubham Maheshwari), the nephew of Carrie’s longtime boyfriend Ed (Rahul Kohli). But familial infighting quickly offers strategy to secrets and techniques concerning the Sinclair dynasty—and perception about Cadence’s destiny.
Ahead, a have a look at the largest variations between the We Were Liars guide and TV adaptation, from extra perception about Johnny’s sexuality to a brand new twist on that surprising ending.
A Missing Timeline and Character
The unique novel chronicles a number of summers, named for the way outdated Cadence is throughout every season. Cadence and Gat start to fall in love throughout summer season 14. Grandmother Tipper dies earlier than summer season 15—the identical 12 months of Cadence’s accident. In summer season 17, Cadence returns to Beechwood Island trying to find solutions concerning the earlier 12 months. But the present condenses the story into simply two timelines: earlier than Cadence’s accident, and after. All of main plot factors happen in summer season 16, together with Grandmother’s sudden demise from coronary heart failure.
In the TV collection, there’s additionally a significant character lacking from the Sinclair household tree. That can be Taft, the youngest son of Bess Sinclair. In the guide, Taft’s major contribution to the story is his concern over Cadence’s Percocet habit—a fear that will get doled out to a slew of different characters on the present.
The Sinclair Sisters
Lockhart’s novel skims over the backstories of sisters Carrie, Penny, and Bess, the moms of three of the titular Liars. There’s extra details about them within the 2022 prequel, Family of Liars. That guide is the place Rosemary, “the daughter who didn’t grow up,” is first talked about. But the collection outright references their late sister, a fourth Sinclair daughter who died throughout childhood. She could have died as a result of one thing that occurred throughout certainly one of their very own summers on the island—whereas grieving the demise of her personal daughter within the present’s season finale, Bess wonders if the fireplace is “punishment” for “what we did.”
Candice King, David Morse, Wendy Crewson, Mamie Gummer, Caitlin Fitzgerald in We Were Liars.Jessie Redmond