The biggest differences between book and Netflix series

Warning: The perfect couple spoilers follow!

There are two sides to every story, including The perfect couple‘S.

Based on Elin Hilderbrand’s New York Times bestseller of the same name, The perfect couple began streaming on Netflix in September 2024, starring an all-star cast including Liev Schreiber, Nicole Kidman, and Dakota Fanning.

The six-episode series’ core plot remains true to the book: a bridesmaid at a wealthy Nantucket family’s wedding is found murdered on the morning of the big day, leading everyone to suspect her murder. Though the hit series is based on the 2018 bestseller, there have been a number of significant changes made as the story has evolved from page to screen.

“I wanted them to make the best television show possible, I wasn’t worried about how they would change the book,” Hilderbrand said The Hollywood Reporter in September 2024. “I said to Jenna from the beginning, ‘I don’t feel precious about this. People can read the book later or earlier; it will be a different experience because it’s a little bit different, they can see how they changed it, and I just wanted it to be excellent television.’ ”

Read on to find out exactly how The perfect couple book differs from Hilderbrand’s novel.

Changes in the names of important characters

The adaptation team changed a number of character names during the process. One of the most significant was that of the bride-to-be, originally named Celeste Otis in the book.

“The bride was given the name Celeste through many, many versions of the script,” Lamia told Tudum in September 2024.

But since Kidman, who plays the mother of the groom-to-be, Greer Garisson Winbury, played a notable character named Celeste in Big little liesLamia decided to give the future bride a different name, “just to avoid any possible confusion,” she said The Hollywood Reporter.

In the Netflix series, the bride-to-be’s name is Amelia Sacks (Eve Hewson).

In addition, Isabel Nallet (Isabelle Adjani), the Winbury family friend who has an affair with Thomas Winbury (Jack Reynor), is called Featherleigh Dale in the book. Moreover, in Hilderbrand’s novel, she is from London, not France. The series also changes best man Shooter Uxley to Shooter Dival (Ishaan Khatter) and Winbury housekeeper Elida to Gosia (Irina Dubova).

New characters like the youngest Winbury brother and absent characters like “The Greek”

The Winbury family grew as it appeared on screen, with Will Winbury (Sam Nivola) as the youngest brother. Although his character didn’t exist in the book, he is an early murder suspect in the series after he is found with bridesmaid Merritt Monaco’s jewelry following her death. Additionally, a subplot follows his growing relationship with the police chief’s daughter, Chloe Carter (Mia Isaac), a character from the book who is slightly different and more developed in the TV adaptation.

While the series added several new characters to the storyline, it also dropped a number of fan favorites from the book, including Nick. Also known as “The Greek,” he is described as a bald, handsome ladies’ man and is one of the lead detectives working the case alongside Ed Kapenash. In the series, the two are replaced by a middle-aged husband-and-wife duo: Chief of Police Dan Carter (Michael Beach) and Detective Nikki Henry (Donna Lynne Champlin).

The Connection Between Amelia and Shooter

The love triangle of the bride and groom to be with best man Shooter is present in both versions of the story. In both the book and the show, Shooter spends a day in the past with the bride-to-be at the Nantucket house prior to Benji Winbury’s (Billy Howle) arrival, where they form an instant connection. But the book develops the weight of Shooter and Amelia’s relationship much more.

In the novel, readers learn that Shooter helped Benji arrange his proposal to Celeste, but he also sent her a note that read, “In case you had any doubts, I’m in love with you.” This creates a major internal conflict for Celeste, who develops a nervous stutter, except around Shooter, and plans to run away with him on the morning of her wedding. However, her plans are disrupted by the death of her best friend.

On the show, Amelia expresses her doubts the day before her wedding, but she and Merritt chalk it up to “cold feet.” Her romance with Shooter culminates in a kiss after the wedding is canceled.

Both versions name Shooter as a suspect, but in the book he has been missing since the night of the murder. In the show he later runs away, is caught, and appears guilty of both fleeing the scene and making a large wire transfer to Greer.

Tag and Merritt’s Affair – and the Jewels He Gave Her

The book reveals much more of Merritt’s (Meghann Fahy) backstory, from her role as head of public relations at the zoo where she and Celeste work to the details of when her affair with Tag Winbury (Schreiber), the groom-to-be’s father, began. Readers learn that the two first met when she visited Nantucket for her best friend’s bachelorette weekend a few months before the wedding, which leads to a much deeper infatuation with her than viewers see on the show. For example, there’s a point in the book where he shows up at her house in the middle of the night because he can’t stop thinking about her.

Just like in the book, Tag gives Merritt a piece of jewelry, but in the show it changes from a thumb ring to a diamond bracelet worth over $18,000. In the series, viewers see Greer discover the receipt for the ring-on-bracelet, but never see Tag give it to Merritt as in the book.

Further details of their secret love affair were absent from the screen, including the weekend getaway he had planned for her birthday but canceled after seeing Thomas in the lobby bar of the hotel where they were supposed to stay. Merritt is devastated by the breakup, especially after she learns she is pregnant, a news she shares with her best friend the night before her wedding on the show, but not in the book.

Greer’s Career and How She Met Her Husband

Greer’s career in the book is not as glamorous as it is in the series. Instead of the best-selling author and public image she is in the series, she is a struggling writer who is on the verge of giving up after Merritt’s death.

On the show, Greer doesn’t slow down in the wake of the tragedy. Instead, she tries harder than ever to maintain her public image, including an interview for a feature in PEOPLE and throwing a book launch party with her devoted fans, a pivotal moment where the truth of her imperfect marriage begins to unravel.

The launch party will also mark the first time viewers see her face-to-face with her brother, Broderick Graham (Tommy Flanagan), who doesn’t exist in the book. But on the show, Broderick, who has ties to the Turkish mafia, showing up also leads to Greer’s big (and new) confession about her marriage: She met Tag during her escort days — not the hookup bar story that played into their “perfect couple” image.

Merritt’s murder and the motive behind it

In a major change from the book, the show’s ending shifts from an accidental death to a calculated murder. In the novel, after discovering her husband Thomas’ affair, Abby Winbury (Fanning) plans to slip Featherleigh a sleeping pill (stolen from Greer’s pill stash) to prevent her from cheating on her husband that night. However, the laced glass is accidentally delivered to Merritt.

Shortly afterward, Merritt wanders the beach, where she accidentally cuts her foot on some glass and steps into the ocean to wash it off. There, she sees the ring that Tag gave her as a gift, which she threw into the ocean earlier that night after their argument. As she tries to retrieve it, the sleeping drug begins to work and she accidentally drowns.

“I loved the ending of the book, but during the development process, the producers and I all realized that in a television series, it might feel more satisfying if the murder was intentional and targeted,” Lamia told The Wrap. “I wanted to honor those parts of the book, but also give the audience the satisfaction of an intentional murder by someone who truly intended to kill the victim.”

So while Abby is still responsible on the show, her actions are much more sinister. Thomas stole a euthanasia pill from Amelia’s terminally ill mother, mistaking it for oxycodone, which Abby later finds. Abby crushes it up in a glass of orange juice and gives it to a devastated Merritt. She then lures her out to the ocean, where she holds her head under water and drowns her – all so that Merritt’s pregnancy won’t disrupt her husband’s inheritance.

With the youngest Winbury brother about to turn 18, Abby and Thomas would soon have access to the trust fund, alleviating their debts and securing the luxury New York City apartment Abby wants. Merritt’s pregnancy would have delayed their inheritance for another 18 years and increased the number of heirs.

Justice is never served in the book

In the book, the police rule Merritt’s death an accident, and are unable to prove who was responsible for drugging Merritt. Using clues she’s learned from writing her own murder mysteries, Greer is the only one to make the connection after discovering her drug gone missing and overhearing a fight between Abby and Thomas, in which she accuses him of cheating.

On the show, the detectives solve the mystery after Thomas reveals a certain piece of the puzzle — that he and Abby weren’t in bed together in the early morning hours as she said — and Detective Henry remembers seeing Abby frantically washing glass the next morning. The Winburys and former suspects watch as justice is served and police arrest Abby in the backyard of their Nantucket home.

“I also wanted to give the police a win because those characters are so smart and it’s so much fun to watch them play off each other, and their relationship builds over the course of the series into a really strong alliance,” Lamia told The Wrap. “It was important to give them the win, especially because they’re the everyman on the show, next to Amelia. We also needed Amelia to have that closure.”

Amelia’s fate – romantic and professional

In both the show and the book, Amelia/Celeste and Benji break up. However, while Amelia in the show is stuck with Shooter, Celeste has more room to rekindle her connection with Shooter in the book.

In a final twist of events, the show’s epilogue ends with a new scene: Greer tracks down Amelia while she’s working at London Zoo, where she’s seeking approval for a new manuscript titled Your movewhich seems to be based on their shared experience, and in which it is suggested that they have dinner together.

Although viewers never find out what Amelia decides, Bier and Lamia both think she’ll go, according to Tudum.